Archive Corp’s San Diego-based Cipher Data Products Inc claims to have the lowest-cost IBM 3480-compatible half-inch cartridge tape drive on the market: the new Cipher TapeXpress offers 18 tracks of read-write electronics and integrated Small Computer Systems Interface, and is also claimed to be the first desktop 8 wide 3480 drive and controller and the fastest tape drive ever designed for 80286 and above systems. The company also claims it to be the first 3480-compatible cap able of emulating reel-to-reel tape drive interfaces, so that it can re place a standard reel-to-reel drive on the IBM AS/400 by unplugging one drive and plugging in the TapeXpress drive. It uses 200Mb and 220Mb car tridges, and an automatic loader takes up to nine cartridges – plus one in the drive. Transfer rate is 1.5Mbytes per second. It is priced to enable end-user prices of about $13,000; no availability date given.
