Plus Development

Plus Development Corp.
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

A Hardcard 20 hard disk on a card with an acrylic cover for display purposes. The Hardcard from Plus Development was the first hard drive on a plug in card for PCs.
A Hardcard 20 hard disk on a card with an acrylic cover for display purposes. The Hardcard from Plus Development was the first hard drive on a plug in card for PCs.

Over the two years after Plus Development was launched, the team was working on some major industry firsts:[3]

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]


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. 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.
  2. ↑ Levy, John (2006-03-16). "Plus Development launch". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  3. ↑ Brown, David (2005-07-12). "The Genesis of Plus Development". Computer History Museum. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ Greer, Jonathan (1985-12-23). "Imitators are flooding Quantum’s Hardcard market" (PDF). San Jose Mercury News. p. 12E. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  6. ↑ 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.
  7. ↑ "Plus Acquires a Direct Marketer of Apple Drives". InfoWorld (IDG Communications) 12 (49): 40. 1990-12-03. ISSN 0199-6649. Retrieved 2010-07-03.

External links

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