Plus Development Corporation was a majority-owned subsidiary of

Quantum Corporation Quantum Corporation is a data storage, management, and protection company that provides technology to store, manage, archive, and protect video and unstructured data throughout the data lifecycle. Their products are used by enterprises, media and ...

. The company invented the

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 (HDD) installs into a drive bay; cables connect the drive to a host ada ...

, a

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magn ...

on an

expansion card In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus sl ...

, which started a wave of companies producing similar products in the 1980s.

History

Quantum Corporation specialized in making sophisticated and expensive

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

s for

minicomputer A minicomputer, or colloquially mini, is a class of smaller general purpose computers that developed in the mid-1960s and sold at a much lower price than mainframe and mid-size computers from IBM and its direct competitors. In a 1970 survey, ...

s. 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 Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consum ...

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 Personal Computer The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a tea ...

which did not come with a hard drive. The company was originally incorporated as BBH Corporation (using the initials for Berkley, Brown, and Harrison), but also used the name Bits in Space for fun. It later changed its name to Qew Corporation (a pun on the first initial of Quantum), finally ending up as 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

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PC card expansion slot (not a

PCMCIA The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was a group of computer hardware manufacturers, operating under that name from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), ...

slot not invented at that time) * Host controller integrated with the hard disk

printed circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a laminated sandwich str ...

(PCB) * A drive controller

chipset In a computer system, a chipset is a set of electronic components in one or more integrated circuits known as a "Data Flow Management System" that manages the data flow between the processor, memory and peripherals. It is usually found on t ...

cheaper than any previously built * Hard drive thickness of only 1 in * 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. * JVC (Japan Victor Company) * Kamerman Labs, (Beaverton, Oregon) – Slot Machine * Maynard Electronics, (Casselberry, Florida) – On Board * Microscience International Corp, (Mountain View, California) – EasyCard * Mountain Computer Inc., (Scotts Valley, California) – DriveCard * Qubie Distributing, (Camarillo, California) – Hardpack * Tandon Corporation, (Chatsworth, California) – DiskCard, Business Card * Verbatum Corporation, (Sunnyvale, California) – Data Bank *

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation (WDC, commonly known as Western Digital or WD) is an American computer drive manufacturer and data storage company, headquartered in San Jose, California. It designs, manufactures and sells data technology products ...

, (Irvine, California) – FileCard

Tandy 1000

Hard cards were the most desirable and easiest way to add a hard drive to the original

Tandy 1000 The Tandy 1000 is the first in a line of IBM PC workalike home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack and Radio Shack Computer Center chains of stores. Overview In December 1983, an executive with Tand ...

lines that had 8-bit slots such as the Sx, Tx, Sl, Tl series. However Tandy offered a size reduced 10.5-in slot, where as Plus hard cards took a full length 13 inches. Hence Plus development hardcards are not physically compatible, as they are too long to fit in a Tandy 1000 computer. If the cover is removed, and the metal plate is removed so that a Plus Development card could fit in physically, it would work normally.

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 ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its sister ...

published the announcement in their December 3, 1990, edition noting the $3.8 million cash transaction.

References

External links

Computer History Museum
{{Hard disk drive manufacturers 1983 establishments in California 1993 disestablishments in California Companies based in Milpitas, California American companies established in 1983 American companies disestablished in 1993 Computer companies established in 1983 Computer companies disestablished in 1993 Computer storage companies Defunct computer companies based in California Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies