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2010 Optical Storage Reunion
of optical disk start-up companies
that were located in Colorado Springs

Chris Steenbergen came up with the idea of having a reunion of all the Optical disk/Storage companies that were founded in Colorado Springs, Colorado, starting in 1979. Most of us in the United States started with MPI (Magnetic Peripheral Laboratory, a Joint venture of Honeywell and CDC). Engineers and management from Phillips NV in the Netherlands joined the advancement of optical storage technology in 1982 with the formation of Optical Peripheral Laboratory, OPL (Between Philips and MPI) and Optical Media Laboratory, OML (Between Philips and Control Data) which was renamed to Optical Storage International (OSI). The effort was in a 12" WORM drive. Several startup companies sprung up in Colorado Springs in order to design the first 5-1/4" WORM drives. Optotech and ISI led the charge, followed later by LMS/OSI (Laser Magnetic Storage and OSI). Check out the presentations for more Optical Storage History.

Attendees

Barry Bailey, Scott Baird, Pete Berg, Bob Biggs, Bill Bixby, Marc Caldwell, Dr. Di Chen, Nathan Coit, Maarten de Haan, Jan de Ruiter, Jim Devoy, Chuck Ernst, Keith Fritze, Kurt Getreuer, Leo Grassens, Neal Hall, Roeland Hekker, Dean Hendrickson, Greg Hofer, Mary Hofer, Barb Ihde, Wayne Ihde, Piet Janssen, Becky Konshak, Mike Konshak, Jim Lauffenburger, Mike Lwellen, Steve McBurney, Russ Meyer, Chris Miller, Gary Mitchell, Rein Monen, Dave Papiernik, Nan Papiernick, Deana Pennington ( Moulton), Kent Pharris, Chris Pollard, Steve Popovich (and wife), Steve Schwartz, Bob Shellenberger, John Sherer, Chris Steenbergen, Bob Sugar, Dennis Weid.

Presentations

Dr. Di Chen Presentation on Remembering AML, OPL, OSI and Optotech (.pptx)

Chris Steenbergen Presentations

Photos

by Chris Miller

by Chris Steenbergen