These cartridges represent the first step in technologies to automate the reading, writing and retrieval of data. Previous to this, all data had to be retrieved, loaded and dismounted by hand.

These cartridges represent the first step in technologies to automate the reading, writing and retrieval of data. Previous to this, all data had to be retrieved, loaded and dismounted by hand.

The IBM 3705 Communications Controller is a simple computer which attaches to an IBM System/360 or System/370. Its purpose is to connect communication lines to the mainframe channel. It was a first communications controller of the popular IBM 37xx series.

The IBM 3705 Communications Controller is a simple computer which attaches to an IBM System/360 or System/370. Its purpose is to connect communication lines to the mainframe channel. It was a first communications controller of the popular IBM 37xx series.

The 3480 tape format is a magnetic tape data storage format developed by IBM. The cartridge contains a single reel. IBM’s 3480 cartridge tape system sought to replace the traditional reels of magnetic tape in the computer center. Because of their speed, reliability, durability and low media cost, these tapes and tape drives are still in high demand. A hallmark of the genre is transferability. Tapes recorded with one tape drive are generally readable on another drive, even if the tape drives were built by different manufacturers.

Introduced at CERN in 1985. It has a storage capacity of 200 MB

The 3390 disks rotated faster than those in the previous model 3380. Faster disk rotation reduced rotational delay (ie. the time required for the correct area of the disk surface to move to the point where data could be read or written). In the 3390's initial models, the average rotational delay was reduced to 7.1 milliseconds from 8.3 milliseconds for the 3380 family.