Shuffling the System: Modular Systems

As minicomputers changed the way offices did business, Hewlett-Packard systems coordinated multiple devices with one another to provide optimal memory support for Hewlett-Packard computers. The modular nature of the devices made it easier to upgrade them and shuffle them around as new technologies arose — a particularly crucial advantage in the fast-changing field of disk drive technology. This system contains five devices. From bottom to top: an HP 9145 tape drive, an HP 3000 Micro-XE computer; a 7963B Disk Drive; a 6400 model 1300 digital tape drive and, on top of the cabinet, an A2657A External Small Computer System Interface Drive.