| Former type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer Storage |
| Fate | Absorbed into parent company 1993 |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Defunct | Yes |
| Headquarters | Milpitas, California, United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Hard disk drives |
| Parent | Quantum Corporation |
Plus Development Corporation was a majority-owned subsidiary of Quantum Corporation and invented the Hardcard hard disk drive on a card which started a wave of companies producing similar products in the late 1980s.[1]
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Plus Development was formed in October, 1983, by a handful of Quantum employees, led by Stephen Berkley (President), Dave Brown (Engineering), and Joel Harrison (Architecture), based on a conversation over dinner between Nolan Bushnell and Quantum President James Patterson that Quantum needed to start building products for the end user market. Their goal was to provide a simplified upgrade path for the newly released IBM PCs which did not come with a hard drive.[1] The company started with the name Bits in Space, later changed it to BBH Corp (using the initials for Berkley, Brown, and Harrison), and finally standing with Plus Development Corporation.[2]
Over the two years after Plus Development was launched, the team was working on some major industry firsts:[3]
Within one year of the Plus Development introduction of Hardcard, 28 companies had released similar products. At that time, all of the other products were using a standard hard drive with a 1.6 inch/40.6 mm height forcing the card to hang over the adjacent PC slot. The hard drive was located on the opposite side away from the connector sometimes enabling a short half-length expansion card to be installed in the adjacent slot. These hard drive cards were usually described as occupying 1.5 expansion slots.[4] Below are some of companies and product names with a similar product to the Plus Hardcard.[5][6]
Over the eight years of its existence, Plus Development had only a single acquisition, La Cie, of Tualatin, Oregon, a manufacturer and direct marketeer of external hard drives for Apple Computer products. InfoWorld published the announcement in their December 3, 1990, edition noting the $3.8 million cash transaction.[7]
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