San Jose, California-based R-Byte Inc has announced its RB100 3.5 form factor, 4mm digital audio tape drives: the RB100 has 1.34Gb capacity on a 4mm, 60 metre tape cassette, and 2.01Gb on a 90 metre cassette; the drive has a 233Kb per second sustained data transfer rate, 11.3 seconds average search speed and embedded SCSI that supports all mandatory SCSI-2 commands; other features include a 15 second tape rewind time, auto-calibration, embedded diagnostics, the ability to effectively read and write both computer grade and standard consumer audio media, and a 55oC operating temperature; the RB100 is designed for network file servers, workstations and high-end personal computers; it is being marketed to original equipment manufacturers, value-added resellers and systems integrators; the RB100 costs $975 in OEM quantities, and initial quantities are being manufactured in San Jose by R-Byte, although Fujitsu Ten will begin volume manufacturing later this year in Japan.
