Ecrix Corp. now has a high-performance ATAPI or IDE version of its VXA-1 tape drive available. In fact, President Kelly Beavers said the VXA-1 is the only high-capacity, high-performance tape drive with an IDE/ATAPI interface.
The 33/66 GB (native/compressed) internal 51/4-inch half-high IDE/ATAPI drive is positioned for and currently available to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), white box manufacturers and system integrators. And, yes, it’s Mac compatible.
SCSI-based tape drives, which require the additional cost of a SCSI controller card, negate the cost benefits IDE/ATAPI disk drives achieve and add to the total cost of the computer system, Beaver said. The VXA-1 IDE/ATAPI drive solves this problem by offering the only server-class tape solution for this market, he adds. Computer manufacturers and system integrators now need both a SCSI- and IDE-based tape solution to compete in this changing market place.
VXA-1 tape drives offer compressed capacities up to 66GB at 6MB/second. The VXA-1 IDE tape drive features an Ultra DMA mode 2 interface and will support burst transfer rates up to 33MB/second.
VXAtape media is interchangeable between drives with any interface. VXAtape cartridges are also available in a selection of capacities ranging from 12GB to 66GB. Pricing for the tape drive starts at US$899.
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