As far as I know, the *only* manufacturer of 'K' tapes in Imation.

I recently upgraded my 3590 E1A drives to 2X, and purchased 3 cases of extended
length tapes, all were boxed/wrapped from the factory, and indicated no
shipping damage at all.

When I went to label the NEW tapes, 2 out of 10 would give me an error
indicating that there was a problem with the tape.  On a second pass however,
the tapes would *sometimes* label just fine.  On the tapes that just refused
to label, I opened the library and ran 'tape diagnostics' on them.  The
diags would fail.  I sent 6 tapes off to Imation for testing:

2 of the tapes indicated 'shipping or handling damage', however Imation
replaced them.

1 of the tapes indicated 'a microcode problem'.  The tape and diagnostic were
sent to IBM Tucson for inspection, and Imation replaced the tape.  No report
yet from IBM.

3 of the tapes were returned with 'no problem', and I put them in the library,
and what do you know.. they labeled fine.

After the tapes are labeled, I do not have any problems with them.. No I/O
errors at all.  I have another case of 30 that have not been labeled yet, and
under Imations advise, I will have my CE present when I attempt to use them.

Imation, I must admit, was very concerned, and quite willing to test the tapes.
They were happy to explain the test process and sent me a detailed report
along with the returned tapes.

I am currently running D01D_22E microcode on the drives, but my CE just
handed me D01D-250, which I hesitate to install until he gives me a 'fix'
list.

Cheers.

Bob Booth