<s>
The	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
format	O
is	O
a	O
magnetic	B-Architecture
tape	I-Architecture
data	I-Architecture
storage	I-Architecture
format	O
developed	O
by	O
IBM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tape	O
drives	O
conforming	O
with	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
3480	I-Device
product	O
family	O
specification	O
were	O
manufactured	O
by	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
vendors	O
from	O
1984	O
to	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Core	O
manufacturers	O
included	O
IBM	O
,	O
Fujitsu	O
,	O
M4	O
Data	O
,	O
Overland	O
Data	O
,	O
StorageTek	B-Application
and	O
Victor	O
Data	O
Systems	O
(	O
VDS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Various	O
models	O
of	O
these	O
tape	O
drives	O
were	O
also	O
marketed	O
under	O
other	O
brands	O
,	O
including	O
DEC	O
,	O
MP	O
Tapes	O
,	O
Philips	O
,	O
Plasmon	O
,	O
Qualstar	O
,	O
Tandem	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Xcerta	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IBM	O
designated	O
all	O
versions	O
of	O
3480	B-Device
and	O
3490E	O
tape	O
drives	O
as	O
members	O
of	O
the	O
3480	B-Device
Product	O
Family	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tape	O
drives	O
built	O
for	O
the	O
3480	B-Device
formats	O
were	O
initially	O
designed	O
for	O
IBM	O
System/370	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Therefore	O
,	O
the	O
first	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drives	O
communicated	O
through	O
a	O
bus	B-Device
and	I-Device
tag	I-Device
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
models	O
were	O
able	O
to	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
ESCON	B-Device
and	O
high	O
voltage	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
interfaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
advent	O
of	O
the	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
interface	O
made	O
it	O
possible	O
to	O
connect	O
3480	B-Device
family	O
tape	O
drives	O
to	O
personal	O
computers	O
,	O
which	O
enabled	O
mainframe-to-PC	O
data	O
exchange	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drives	O
were	O
introduced	O
in	O
1984	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IBM	B-Device
3480	I-Device
was	O
the	O
first	O
tape	O
drive	O
to	O
employ	O
magnetoresistive	O
(	O
MR	O
)	O
heads	O
and	O
the	O
first	O
to	O
use	O
chromium	O
dioxide	O
tape	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
necessary	O
to	O
accelerate	O
and	O
decelerate	O
the	O
tape	O
within	O
the	O
interblock	O
gap	O
,	O
a	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drive	O
does	O
not	O
need	O
vacuum	O
columns	O
,	O
and	O
that	O
allows	O
it	O
to	O
be	O
much	O
smaller	O
than	O
tape	O
drives	O
for	O
earlier	O
formats	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IBM	O
's	O
prior	O
technology	O
employed	O
9	O
recording	O
tracks	O
with	O
a	O
data	O
density	O
of	O
of	O
tape	O
,	O
so	O
the	O
3480	B-Device
format	O
was	O
greeted	O
as	O
a	O
major	O
breakthrough	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
IBM	B-Device
3480	I-Device
cartridge	O
stored	O
200	O
megabytes	O
in	O
a	O
modest	O
cartridge	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
previous	O
technology	O
's	O
140	O
megabytes	O
on	O
a	O
diameter	O
(	O
length	O
)	O
reel	O
of	O
tape	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
3480	B-Device
and	O
its	O
successors	O
are	O
streaming	O
drives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
IBM	O
offered	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drives	O
with	O
bus	B-Device
and	I-Device
tag	I-Device
interfaces	O
,	O
other	O
manufacturers	O
sold	O
models	O
with	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
interfaces	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drive	O
with	O
IDRC	O
could	O
record	O
up	O
to	O
400	O
megabytes	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
tape	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
3480	B-Device
IDRC	O
format	O
is	O
also	O
commonly	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
3490	O
recording	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drive	O
with	O
IDRC	O
uses	O
the	O
same	O
data	O
cartridges	O
as	O
a	O
standard	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
can	O
read	O
and	O
write	O
standard	O
3480	B-Device
tapes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Its	O
36-track	B-Device
head	O
was	O
able	O
to	O
record	O
800	O
megabytes	O
of	O
data	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
tape	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
last	O
36-track	B-Device
tape	O
drive	O
manufacturer	O
,	O
VDS	O
,	O
discontinued	O
production	O
late	O
in	O
2004	O
,	O
after	O
IBM	O
announced	O
that	O
it	O
would	O
no	O
longer	O
supply	O
36-track	B-Device
thin	O
film	O
tape	O
heads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3490E	O
tape	O
drives	O
were	O
available	O
from	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
manufacturers	O
with	O
bus	B-Device
and	I-Device
tag	I-Device
,	O
ESCON	B-Device
,	O
or	O
high	O
voltage	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
interfaces	O
,	O
and	O
were	O
capable	O
of	O
data	O
transfer	O
speeds	O
up	O
to	O
20MB	O
per	O
second	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3490E	O
data	O
cartridges	O
are	O
the	O
same	O
dimensions	O
as	O
3480	B-Device
cartridges	O
and	O
the	O
tape	O
media	O
is	O
the	O
same	O
only	O
longer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
3490E	O
tape	O
is	O
optimized	O
for	O
36-track	B-Device
recording	O
heads	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
18-track	B-Device
recording	O
heads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Nevertheless	O
,	O
some	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drives	O
can	O
record	O
on	O
3490E	O
media	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
3490E	O
tape	O
drives	O
are	O
able	O
to	O
read	O
tapes	O
recorded	O
by	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Others	O
can	O
also	O
write	O
tapes	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
read	O
by	O
3480	B-Device
tape	O
drives	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
But	O
many	O
3490E	O
tape	O
drives	O
can	O
only	O
read/write	O
36-track	B-Device
tapes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
3480	B-Device
magnetic	O
tape	O
format	O
family	O
has	O
been	O
superseded	O
by	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
3590	I-Device
"	O
Magstar	B-Device
"	O
magnetic	O
tape	O
format	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
distinguished	O
by	O
much	O
higher	O
transfer	O
rates	O
and	O
densities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
3590	O
format	O
was	O
succeeded	O
by	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
3592	I-Device
"	O
Jaguar	O
"	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
