History (1989): Problems for IBM With 3380 HDD for Mainframes

Lately, IBM has not had any luck with its HDDs for its mainframe computers.

It had to replace HDAs on some 3380 installed and is late in the announcement of its 3390 expected by customers to replace the 3380.

The new 3390 should use 10-inch platters (unlike the 14-inch ones used in the 3380) and offer 3GB capacity with 6MB/s transfer rate. Its announcement should have been made last July but was postponed. Big Blue took it off-stage at the last minute reportedly for further testing. 3390 are planned for the 3090 series computers.

Anyway, the new drives won’t be available before 1990 and their launching could begin, in the best case, this month.

IBM is not expected to produce a new generation of 5.25-inch array disks before next year.

Some probably remember that a decade ago, the 3380 was launched to replace the 3350, and that it then encountered technical problems.

Hesh Wiener, from Technology News of America, wonders if the delay taken with the 3380 is not related to the fact that IBM still owns an important amount of 3380 models J and K.

The 3380 has recently had two technical problems. Big Blue had to admit it had mechanical problems on some J and K models with the head-disk assembly, on units purchased by customers before September 1988. On some drives, the vibration causes error messages and eventually drags down performance. IBM was fair play and changed the HDAs when customers asked for it and even introduced micro codes on the controllers to prevent them from this eventual default.

As a result of these technical difficulties on the 3380 and the up coming of the 3390, the price of the 3380 has dipped, on the second hand market, according to TNA. The AA4 models dropped under $12,000 and the B D4 at $22,500. The EA4 is priced at $49,000 and the BE4 at $47,000. The K model is at 75% of its tariff price, $100,000 for an AK4 and $82,000 for a BK4.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠19/20, published on August/September 1989.