Plus Development
 | |
| 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]
History
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]
Product Development
Over the two years after Plus Development was launched, the team was working on some major industry firsts:[3]
- A hard disk that installed in an ISA PC card expansion slot (not a PCMCIA slot not invented at that time)
- Host controller integrated with the hard disk printed circuit board (PCB)
- A drive controller chipset cheaper than any previously built
- Hard drive thickness of only 1”
- Consumer-focused installation of a hard disk
Competition
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]
- JVC (Japan Victor Company)
- Kamerman Labs, (Beaverton, Oregon) – Slot Machine
- Maynard Electronics, (Casselberry, Florida) – On Board
- Microscience International Corp, (Mountain View, California) – EasyCard
- Mountain Computer Inc., (Scotts Valley, California) – DriveCard
- Qubie Distributing, (Camarillo, California) – Hardpack
- Tandon Corporation, (Chatsworth, California) – DiskCard, Business Card
- Verbatum Corporation, (Sunnyvale, California) – Data Bank
- Western Digital, (Irvine, California) – FileCard
Tandy 1000
Hard cards were the most desirable and easiest way to add a hard drive to the original Tandy 1000 lines that had 8-bit slots such as the Sx, Tx, Sl, Tl series. However Tandy offered a size reduced 10 1/2" slot, where as Plus hard cards took a full length 13 inches.
Hence Plus development hardcards are not physically compatible, as they are too long to fit in a Tandy 1000 computer. If the cover is removed, and the metal plate is removed so that a plus development card could fit in physically, it would work normally.
Acquisitions
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. The trade paper InfoWorld published the announcement in their December 3, 1990, edition noting the $3.8 million cash transaction.[7]
References
- 1 2 Miranker, C.W. (1985-08-18). "Hardcard may be disk drive firm's ace in the hole" (PDF). San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ↑ Levy, John (2006-03-16). "Plus Development launch". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ↑ Brown, David (2005-07-12). "The Genesis of Plus Development". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ↑ Welch, Mark J. (1986-06-16). "Plus Unveils 20-Megabyte, Faster Version of Hardcard". InfoWorld. IDG Communications. 8 (24): 13. ISSN 0199-6649. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
- ↑ Greer, Jonathan (1985-12-23). "Imitators are flooding Quantum's Hardcard market" (PDF). San Jose Mercury News. p. 12E. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ↑ Welch, Mark J. (1986-06-16). "Data Storage: Hard Disk, Tape Backup Choices Grow". InfoWorld. IDG Communications. 8 (24): 37–43. ISSN 0199-6649. Retrieved 2010-06-30.
- ↑ "Plus Acquires a Direct Marketer of Apple Drives". InfoWorld. IDG Communications. 12 (49): 40. 1990-12-03. ISSN 0199-6649. Retrieved 2010-07-03.