Tandberg Storage
 | |
| Former type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer data storage |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Founded | May 22, 2003 |
| Defunct | April 24, 2009 |
| Headquarters | Lysaker, Norway |
| Key people |
Kevin Devlin (CEO) Øivind Lund (Chair) |
| Revenue | NOK 236 million[1] |
| Net income | NOK −23 million[1] |
| Parent | Tandberg Data |
| Website | www.tandbergstorage.com |
Tandberg Storage ASA was a magnetic tape data storage company based in Lysaker, Norway. The company was a subsidiary of Tandberg Data. The company was spun off from Tandberg Data in 2003 to focus exclusively on tape drives.[2] It was purchased by the same company in 2008.[3] Tandberg Storage developed four drive series, all based on Linear Tape-Open (LTO) specifications. Manufacturing was outsourced to the Chinese-based Lafè Peripherals International. Tandberg Storage also owned 93.5% of O-Mass AS. The company was declared bankrupt together with Tandberg Data in 2009.[4]
History
Tandberg Storage was established as a spin-off of Tandberg Data on 22 May 2003. Tandberg Storage had previously been an integrated part of Tandberg Data, but management wanted the two companies to follow separate research and development strategies. While Tandberg Data retained responsibility on complete storage and automation systems, Tandberg Storage would focus on advanced tape-drive technologies. Tandberg Storage was established with 37 research and development employees, plus a 93.5% ownership of O-Mass.[5] The company was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange on 2 October 2003, with the owners of Tandberg Data receiving all the shares in Tandberg Storage.[2]
The initial goal of the company was to develop a LTO-2 linear tape-open drive within a half-height form factor. While the underlying technology had been developed, the main components needed to be developed, in particular the drive mechanism. A working system was demonstrated in December 2003, and in June 2004 the first complete prototype could be tested. In October, the test program started, and from December verification was initiated with the LTO Committee. The drive was approved on 11 March 2005. In the second half of 2005, Tandberg Storage developed Serial Attached SCSI and application and data integration. These were both launched in 2006. In 2005, the company also started development of a half-height LTO-3 drive. The product was launched in 2007. The following year, a no-encryption LTO-4 was launched.[5]
In November 2008, Tandberg Storage merged with Tandberg Data, with the latter paying the former's owners in shares. Both companies had been having financial problems, and the cooperation between the two had been difficult during 2008. Tandberg Storage was at the time the largest supplier to Tandberg Data. By merging, the managements hoped to gain synergy effects between the two companies. Until the announcement of the merger in September, Tandberg Storage's share price had fallen 89% since the start of the year. Following the announcement, the share price fell a further 35%. The take-over involved a refinancing of the debt in Tandberg Storage. Tandberg Storage remained a subsidiary.[3]
Operations
The company was based at Lysaker in Bærum, just outside Oslo, Norway. Of the 54 employees in 2007, 45 worked within research and development.[6] The main competitors offering LTO drives were Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Quantum.[6]
Products
Tandberg Storage produced a full range of Linear Tape-Open drives, between 100 and 800 gigabytes.[7] Manufactured by Lafè Peripherals International of China,[5] there are four models available. All drives were built around a common half-height aluminum casting. All drives, except the TS200, have variable transfer rate systems to match host transfer speeds. All drives have the lowest power consumption in the industry, and do not require external fans.[7] In 2006, Tandberg Storage held a 26% worldwide market share.[6]
| Specification | TS1600 | TS800 | TS400 | TS200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | LTO-4 | LTO-3 | LTO-2 | LTO-1 |
| Transfer rate | 80 MB/s | 60 MB/s | 24 MB/s | 16 MB/s |
| Interface | SCSI Ultra-160 SAS 1.1 | SCSI Ultra-160 SAS 1.1 | SCSI Ultra-160 | SCSI Ultra-160 |
| Memory buffer | 128 MB | 128 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Tape speed | 4.37 m/s | 4.21 m/s | 4.21 m/s | 4.37 m/s |
| Hard read error rate | 10−17 | 10−17 | 10−17 | 10−17 |
O-Mass
O-Mass AS was a research and development subsidiary responsible for the development of a new read-write head technology, that could allow tape sizes to reach 10 terabytes. A conceptual 2 TB demonstration was produced. Tandberg Storage owned 93.5%, while Imation of the United States held 6.5% of the company.[6][8] Three people worked for O-Mass.[9]
References
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Annual Report, 2007: 8
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Haraldsen, Christian H. (3 October 2003). "Snart kommer fasiten". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Backen, Jonas Blich (12 September 2008). "Tandberg Data kjøper Storage". Dagens IT (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ↑ "Tandberg Data er konkurs". Computerworld Norway (in Norwegian). 24 April 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2009.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tandberg Storage. "History". Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Tandberg Storage. "Operations". Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Tandberg Storage. "Products". Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ↑ Halvorsen, Finn (13 June 2006). "Tenker i terabytes". Teknisk Ukeblad (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 April 2009.
- ↑ Annual Report 2007: 5
Bibliography
- Tandberg Storage (2008). "Annual Report 2007". Retrieved 25 April 2009.</ref>
Coordinates: 59°54′34″N 10°37′27″E / 59.90934°N 10.62425°E