 At least partly due to the success of the S/360, and the resultant standardization on 8-bit character codes and byte addressing, nine-track tapes were very widely used throughout the computer industry during the 1970s and 1980s.IBM no longer introduced reel-to-reel products beginning with its 1984 introduction of the cartridge based 3480 family.LINCtape, and its derivative, DECtape, were variations on this "round tape".