I recently came across an interesting UK start-up called M5 Data which designs, develops and manufactures tape libraries at its Wells, Somerset headquarters for the mid range near-line storage market, where density, scalability and cost effectiveness are key. M5 Data is a start-up with a pedigree, arising out of the 2001 acquisition of UK tape library manufacturer M4 Data by Quantum, the world's largest volume supplier of tape drives and tape automation. M4 had its origins in Thorn-EMI and had already passed through a period of ownership by StorageTek. When Quantum decided to repatriate design work back to the US, Duke Ebenezer (M4's former boss) managed to keep the core product team together and in 2003 M5 was born.

M5's technology features a unique patented robotics system with an innovative vertical lift mechanism. Scalable from 50 to 200 tape cartridges (and in the future expandable to up to 500 slots), its Richmond libraries offer the highest storage density in the industry.

Apart from the innovative technology, there are a number of things about this launch that make it interesting.

First, totally UK-based hardware start-ups are relatively rare. UK software companies there are aplenty (take IT security for example: Sophos, MessageLabs, Clearswift, SurfControl/BlackSpider)—but hardware vendors are not so common. Barriers to entry may be higher for hardware start-ups (manufacturing facility costs etc.), so lack of good funding opportunities in the UK may play a part: a view reinforced by figures from the British Venture Capital Association showing investment in early-stage technology companies slumped in 2005.

A contributory factor to the shortage of hardware innovation in the UK could be that engineering is less well regarded than other professions. Despite a Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development survey recently showing that a third of UK graduates believe they studied the wrong course at university (with most saying that they should have taken a more scientific or technical course, a business-based or a professional qualification), fewer and fewer students in the UK take science and technology courses at University, and fewer graduates are attracted to IT as a career. As long as other professions such as accounting, law or medicine are seen to be better rewarded than engineering (never mind movie actors and football players!) it is little wonder that degree courses like Media Studies and Sports Science are swamped, while Engineering and Science courses are being shut down.

The cost of designing and manufacturing hardware in high-cost economies such as the UK could be a problem, when globalisation gives businesses the ability to manufacture in lower wage geographies. However this does not seem to have limited US manufacturers, and may not be as much as an issue for premium products such as tape libraries—witness Norwegian tape drive and automation player Tandberg Data.

A final point of interest is the market that M5 has chosen to enter. With the emergence of disk-to-disk backup, tape is past its glory days, and although not as dead as some would have us believe, the tape library market is seen as a mature and consolidating market rather than a growth area. By concentrating on what it does well—providing high density and scalability at the right price—M5 may yet be able carve out a large piece of that shrinking pie for itself.