Stac Inc subsidiary, Hi/fn Inc has announced a compression chip that is compliant with the new Linear Tape-Open technology, unveiled this week (CI No 3,385). The San Jose encryption and compression supplier’s 9601 processor will operate at speeds of 60Mb and 100Mb a second, and the company claims the new chips will enable manufacturers to get their products to market much faster. The processor has two channels and is capable of full-speed simultaneous compression and decompression. Hi/fn, pronounced hyphen, worked with Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp and Seagate Technology Inc, the developers of the new LTO technology, on its definition. The chips are being described by Hi/fn as high performance and ready-to-use processors. Manufacturers will also be able to license the 9601 technology and build their own future generation LTO devices, based on the single chip electronics. Hi/fn first came to life in September 1996, when majority owner Stac announced plans to spin off its compression business (CI No 2,997). The company concentrates on compression and encryption technology for software and silicon, and operates mainly in the remote access concentrators, network routers, archival storage and electronic commerce sectors. The 60Mb 9601 costs $29, in quantities of 100,000, and the 100Mb model is priced at $39, again in quantities of 100,000. The chips will be available in June, and Hi/fn is taking orders now.
