History (1992): Record of 10.2GB on ATG 12-Inch Optical Disk

ATG (Toulouse, France) has surpassed its own worldwide capacity record on a 12-inch optical digital WORM disk: 5.1GB on each side.

To go from its former record of 4 .5GB per side to the new one, 13% more, the French manufacturer has simply improved the efficiency of its WORM disk, by increasing the number of tracks on the inside and the outside of the disk.

The record was held by Eastman Kodak with the same 10.2GB capacity, but on both sides of a 14-inch disk with low sales.

A new disk means a new drive, the 9001/S with a SCSl-1 or -2 interface. It will cost 5 to 6% more than the previous model 9001, a user price between FF220,000 and FF230,000.

The device, produced in May, will offer the same specs as the previous model, a 123ms average seek time and a 1MB/s transfer rate.

The new unit will be able to read (but not to write) former 3.2 and 4.5GB per side media.

This increase in capacity will also apply to the automatic 6-disk loader, ATG’s GigaFeeder, that will have a 30.6GB capacity for FF140,000 to FF150,000, as well as Cygnet’s jukeboxes sold by ATG with a highest model reaching 1.44TB.

This new product is leaving competitors behind, mainly Hitachi (3.5GB per side), Sony (3.3) and LMSI (2.8) but this last one has developed a double-headed drive that can effectively store 5.8GB on-line without having to turn over the disk, an enhancement in a technology ATG is working on and should unveil end 1992 or beginning 1993.

The Toulouse-based company should also shortly announce new large OEM contracts with Bull, Data General, Hewlett-Packard and ICL.

The Optix group (Nanterre, France) that heads ATG and Dorotech is pleased with its new 130-employee subsidiary that, after a balanced quarter for the first time in 1990, should report substantial profits for its fiscal period ending in March and especiall sales climbing from FF54 million to F105 million, with 70% in exports and 50% in the US, according to Christian Maillard, its new VP, sales and marketing.

Optimem’s withdraw from the competition as well as ATG’s technical advancements have something to do with this progression.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠50, published on March 1992.

Note: New ATG company bankrupts on March 24, 2009. It was born in 1999 following the acquisition of ATG assets by Bruno Epale and partners.