Some more DST/DIS/DCRsi stuff...
The links below take you to a presentation given by Tracy Wood of Ampex during the October 15-16, 1996 meeting of THIC (Tape Head Interface Committee). The presentation was entitled "DD-2 and DCRsi Technology Roadmaps."
Some of the more interesting details:
DCRsi
1) Sometime this year Ampex will release a solid state front end for its DCRsi data recorders. Some features: 2-10 GB of solid state memory (FIFO), burst data rate of up to 100 MB/sec, cache of up to 500 MB.
DST/DIS (DD-2)
1) By mid-1998, Ampex expects to quadruple the density of its tape drives while still providing forward compatibility. That would increase the capacities of the cartridges to 100 GB, 300GB, and 660 GB! Note: from the original 25, 75, 165 GB.
2) Quad-density will be accompanied by an increase in data rate from the current 15-20 MB/sec to 30-40 MB/sec.
3) By the year 2000, Ampex projects that it can increase the density of its tape drives by TEN times! That would mean cartridges with the following capacities: 250 GB, 750 GB, 1.6 Terabytes!! Backward and forward compatibility are still unresolved, and data rates will remain in the 25-40 MB/sec range probably because this leap in density involves the use of thinner tape (read: simply more recording area).
These roadmaps are very important to the current marketing effort underway because these provide existing and potential customers with a very reasonable idea of how Ampex's DST products will grow with its storage requirements. The indisputable fact is that for the markets that Ampex is targeting, storage requirements can only grow faster.
Links
thic.org
ftp://ftp.uu.net/vendor/THIC/Oct96/ampex.twood.pdf |
