Compaq drives into tape backup market

The firm today released a Travan tape drive kit for desktop PCs that stores 4Gb of data uncompressed and works on Windows 95, 3.1 and NT 3.51 and 4.0. "Hard disk drives are growing with people storing AVI video, sound and large graphics files," said Neil Dagger, options product marketing manager for Compaq. "This isn't so much a suck-it-and-see approach as a response to customer requirements. If it goes well, we'll look at bulking up at the high-end and the entry-level."

Dagger said the move is part of a broad push on Compaq-branded peripherals.

"We basically saw an opportunity where customers wanted to buy options and peripherals but we weren't making it as easy for them to buy from us as we should have done. We've marketed better, made better products available and we've improved the commitment on sales and service."

Backing up Dagger's comments, Compaq today released its TFT500, a TFT desktop monitor aimed at financial markets. The £2,875 unit offers the same viewing area as a 17-inch CRT monitor plus USB peripheral support, according to the firm.