Plus Development
Encyclopedia
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.
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. 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.
Below are some of companies and product names with a similar product to the Plus Hardcard.
, of Tualatin, Oregon
, a manufacturer and direct marketeer of external hard drives for Apple Computer products. InfoWorld published the announcement in their December 3, 1990, edition noting the $3.8 million cash transaction.
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
of Quantum Corporation and invented the Hardcard
Hardcard
Hardcard is the genericized trademark for a hard disk drive, disk controller, and host adapter on an expansion card for a personal computer.Typically a hard disk drive installs into a drive bay; cables connect the drive to a host adapter and power source...
hard disk drive on a card which started a wave of companies producing similar products in the late 1980s.
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 BushnellNolan Bushnell
Nolan K. Bushnell is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain...
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. 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.
Product Development
Over the two years after Plus Development was launched, the team was working on some major industry firsts:- A hard disk that installed in an ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
PC card expansion slotExpansion cardThe expansion card in computing is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an expansion slot of a computer motherboard or backplane to add functionality to a computer system via the expansion bus.One edge of the expansion card holds the contacts that fit exactly into the slot...
(not a PCMCIAPC CardIn computing, PC Card is the form factor of a peripheral interface designed for laptop computers. The PC Card standard was defined and developed by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association which itself was created by a number of computer industry companies in the United States...
slot not invented at that time)
- Host controllerHost adapterIn computer hardware, a host controller, host adapter, or host bus adapter connects a host system to other network and storage devices...
integrated with the hard disk printed circuit boardPrinted circuit boardA printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
(PCB)
- A drive controller chipsetChipsetA chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
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.Below are some of companies and product names with a similar product to the Plus Hardcard.
- JVCJVC, usually referred to as JVC, is a Japanese international consumer and professional electronics corporation based in Yokohama, Japan which was founded in 1927...
(Japan Victor Company) - Kamerman Labs, (Beaverton, Oregon) – Slot Machine
- Maynard ElectronicsMaynard ElectronicsMaynard Electronics was an American company based in Lake Mary, Florida that produced magnetic tape data storage related products.The company was founded by Kim and Alison Knapp in 1982. It was acquired by Archive Corp. in 1989, but the brand was maintained. In order to make it easier to sell...
, (Casselberry, Florida) – On Board - Microscience International Corp, (Mountain View, California) – EasyCard
- Mountain Computer Inc., (Scotts Valley, California) – DriveCard
- Qubie Distributing, (Camarillo, California) – Hardpack
- Tandon CorporationTandon CorporationTandon Corporation was a disk drive and PC manufacturer founded in the mid-1970s by "Jugi" Tandon. The company's original purpose was to provide magnetic read-write heads for the then-burgeoning floppy-drive market. Due to the labor-intensive nature of the product, production was carried out in...
, (Chatsworth, California) – DiskCard, Business Card - Verbatum Corporation, (Sunnyvale, California) – Data Bank
- Western DigitalWestern DigitalWestern Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
, (Irvine, California) – FileCard
Acquisitions
Over the eight years of its existence, Plus Development had only a single acquisition, La CieLaCie
LaCie is a computer hardware company specializing in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, Flash Drives, and computer monitors. The company markets several lines of hard drives with a capacity of up to many terabytes of data, with a choice of interfaces...
, of Tualatin, Oregon
Tualatin, Oregon
Tualatin is a city located primarily in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon. A small portion of the city is also located in neighboring Clackamas County. It is a southwestern suburb in the Portland Metropolitan Area that is located south of Tigard...
, a manufacturer and direct marketeer of external hard drives for Apple Computer products. InfoWorld published the announcement in their December 3, 1990, edition noting the $3.8 million cash transaction.