History

Tandberg Storage ASA was established as an independent company 1 October 2003. Tandberg Storage's operations had previously been an integrated part of Tandberg Data. Tandberg Storage is building on the extensive technological development that has been conducted in Tandberg Data ASA and Tandberg Radio Factory the last 30 years.

The most import milestones in the Tandberg story are as follows:

1933:     Tandberg Radio Factory established
1979:     Tandberg Data established as an independent company
1980's:   A number of data storage products based on Quarter Inch Cartridge are    

               introduced to  the market.
1984:     Tandberg Data is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange
1987:     Data storage products become the single most important source of revenue

              and profit for Tandberg Data.
1990's:  International expansion in Tandberg Data.
1996:     Tandberg Data decides to focus solely on data storage products.
2000:     Tandberg Data establishes O-Mass.
2002:     Imation Corporation invests in O-Mass
2003:     Tandberg Storage established as an independent Company
2005:     LTO2 released

2006:     LTO1 released

History and development

Tandberg Storage ASA is global company, focused on development and manufacturing of advanced data storage products, based on the LTO standard. Tandberg Storage ASA was established as an independent Company r22 May 2003. Tandberg Storage's operations had previously been an integrated part of Tandberg Data which de-merged as per 1 October 2003. Tandberg Storage is building on the extensive technological development that has been conducted in Tandberg Data ASA and Tandberg Radio Factory the last 30 years. The main reason behind the de-merger was to allow the two companies to follow different R&D paths in storage technologies. Tandberg Storage would focus solely on R&D activities around advanced tape-drive technologies, while Tandberg Data would focus on R&D of complete storage and automation systems. The initial assets of Tandberg Storage were 37 employees from the R&D department of Tandberg Data as well as a 93.5% stake in O-mass AS. Tandberg Storage has been traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange since 2 October 2003.

When the company began its operation in October 2003 it was with a clear goal of developing a reliable, low cost LTO2 drive within a half height form factor. The underlying technology was partly developed prior to the start-up time; however, all the main building blocks for this tape drive had to be developed from scratch. A major portion of this development program relates to the mechanical development. Since LTO is a new type of tape cartridge originally introduced as late as in year 2000, it was necessary to design a complete new drive mechanism, focusing on reliability, low cost and compact form factor.  The basic design concept was created fairly rapidly and demonstrated late December 2003; however, it was not until late June 2004 that the first complete prototype was available for testing. This included the complete drive mechanism as well as the electronics with the four new special design electronic circuits (ASICs) and some basic firmware (software to control operation).

The R&D group then fine-tuned the mechanism, the electronics and the firmware during the second half of 2004. A massive test program was initiated in October 2004. Verification testing with the LTO committee began in December 2004 and continued until 11 March 2005 when the committee announced that TST's LTO2 drive had passed all necessary tests and was approved.

During the second half of 2005 the company spent a lot of resources on production, quality and yield improvements as well as cost reduction programs to ensure that the drive remained competitive in the market. At the same time, development on special interfaces (ADI and SAS) began. This work continued into 2006, with the ADI (Automation) Interface launched summer 2006. The SAS interface development has continued during second half of 2006 and a series of SAS drives are now undergoing final testing. In addition, an LTO1 version of the drive was developed and introduced to the market in Q1 2006.

The company began development work on a half height LTO3 drive second half 2005, focusing on the design of four new ASICs as well as improvements to special areas of the mechanical design. This work has continued during 2006 with all the new ASICs received during second half of 2006. New mechanical tooling was also developed during this period.

Today, the Company is based at Lysaker, near Oslo, with all administrative and R&D functions under the same roof. Of the 55 employees, 46 are directly involved in R&D, making the administration very lean. The production of tape-drives is outsourced to the Chinese manufacturer, Lafè Peripherals International.