StorageTek this week holds it annual customer conference, FORUM, in San Antonio, Texas. As is usual with such events, the company is making plenty of announcements, including a new FlexLine name for many of its online storage systems. Along with a new name, the company will also introduce a new FlexLine FLA300 disk array and the FlexLine FLX210 storage system. The company will also unveil its successor to the BladeStore line, the FlexLine 600 series. The new line will use a new blade design and lower-cost SATA drives. While StorageTek gets away from its Boulder, Colo. home for the conference, many attendees may think the only historical significance of San Antonio may be the storied Alamo. True, Disney recently re-enacted the historic battle on the big screen, but San Antonio also holds some significance for anyone in the computer industry. San Antonio was home to Datapoint Corp. While the Datapoint name is pretty much limited to a few computer timelines now, the company was in many ways the forerunner of current computer technology. First and foremost, the company invented ARCnet, which was an early local area network that was established way back in 1977, when leisure suits and muscle cars still roamed the earth. The company has also been credited with pushing the development of the microprocessor, as one of its goals was to design a CPU-powered terminal for its networks. One of the companies it approached to build this CPU was none other than current computer powerhouse Intel Corp. Datapoint was unable to capitalize on its intellectual foresight however. Greed intervened in the form of a corporate raider who purchased the company in 1985. This was a time when research and development funds were being cut to the bone. As with many companies purchased during the “junk” bond craze of the 1980s, Datapoint eventually filed for bankruptcy and sold off its assets during a slow and painful death spiral. But if it had lasted, we might be talking less about Silicon Valley and more about Alamo Alley as the cradle of the high tech world. Technology Industry