Quantum Corporation (NYSE: QTM) is a manufacturer of tape drive, tape automation, data deduplication storage products and scalable file storage software, based in San Jose, California. From its founding in 1980 until 2000, it was also a major disk storage manufacturer (usually #2 in market share behind Seagate), and was based in Milpitas, California.
Quantum got its start when executives and designers from Shugart Associates, IBM and Memorex came up with an idea for an 8-inch hard drive that would achieve decent performance without the cost or complexity of using a full closed-loop servo system — a difficult task before the advent of dedicated servo ICs and readily-available DSPs.