IBM Follows Immediatly Sun With 1TB Enterprise Tape Drive
But with faster transfer rate (native 160MBs vs. 120 MBs) and for the first time GMR used in tape technology
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on July 16, 2008 at 3:42 pmIBM introduced the industry’s fastest one terabyte (TB) storage tape drive, which will enable clients to protect and archive more information with less cost and less energy usage – the highest capacity and performance of any tape drive in the market.
The new IBM System Storage TS1130 Tape Drive will be able to store up to one TB of uncompressed data per tape cartridge and with a native data rate of 160 megabytes per second (MB/s), storage backups can be completed up to 54 percent faster than the previous generation drive.
Equivalent to storing the text of one million books on a single tape cartridge, the IBM System Storage TS1130 Tape Drive is ideal for mid-sized to enterprise clients across financial, life sciences and public sector industries looking for massive data protection, compliance and archive solutions needed over the long term. Coupled with IBM’s tape virtualization offerings, large, scalable automation, and tape drive encryption, customers can benefit from the low cost of tape solutions that are highly secure, while simplifying the management of backup and archive operations.
"IBM is committed to tape storage as part of a tiered information infrastructure and today we offer the fastest, highest capacity drive in the market,” said Cindy Grossman, Vice President of Tape and Archive, IBM System Storage. “Tape storage is the most green and cost-effective form of data storage available, and the IBM TS1130 Tape Drive will enable clients to address their growing needs for affordable and robust data solutions by storing more data on fewer cartridges, which will save clients valuable time, space, energy and money."
The IBM System Storage TS1130 uses a high technology Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) head design that leverages IBM’s world-record achievement of developing a more sensitive read-write head for the magnetic tape system — which results in fewer data read errors helping to provide outstanding data integrity and subsystem reliability. It also features a special head overcoat technology that helps increase the overall life expectancy of the product.
The TS1130 uses existing 3592 rewritable and WORM cartridges. It offers backwards compatibility with support for Gen 1, 2 and 3 formats supporting both read and write for Gen 2 and read only for Gen1 helping to protect media investments and lower costs.
The TS1130 Tape Drive also supports drive-based data encryption to help protect your data. The TS1130-based encryption and associated Encryption Key Manager component are supported in a wide variety of operating system environments.
IBM is number one in the world for branded total tape revenue share five years running and number one in branded enterprise drives and automation revenue. The IBM System Storage TS1130 Tape Drive is an important part of the information infrastructure strategy – delivering the availability, security, retention and compliance requirements that clients seek. This strategy maps directly to IBM’s New Enterprise Data Center model, which helps clients improve IT efficiency and facilitates the rapid deployment of new IT services for future business growth.
Pricing and Availability
The new IBM System Storage TS1130 (GA) will be available worldwide on September 5, 2008 with a starting price of $39,050. IBM is also offering an upgrade from existing drives for $19,500 and backward media compatibility for investment protection.
Comments
Yesterday, commenting on the news, World's First 1TB Tape Drive, by Sun StorageTek, we wrote:" Bet that Big Blue will react rapidly." But we were not waiting for this extremely fast reaction. Why? We think that IBM wanted to release its product later because it is not really ready. He will be available for customers as late as September. But, when Sun announces its drive, this one supposed to ship this month, Big Blue decided to give a fast answer to reassure its customers. Just a question of marketing when you have 59% of the total number of units shipped in this high-end segment in 2007, against 41% for your competitor, according to IDC, one of the last analyst firm currently studying the tape market since Freeman Associates has stopped its activities.
In the press release, IBM said that the new TS1130 is based on Giant Magneto
Resistive technology. To our knowledge, it's the first time GMR is used for a magnetic tape drive. The company was also the first to announce a GMR HDD, back in November 10, 1997 (desktop 3.5-inch Deskstar 14GXP at 14.4B and 16GP at 16.8). Sony was studying this possibility of using GMR for tapes in 2001 to reach also 1TB into a cartridge containing half-inch width tape for the now defunct helical scan SAIT device (the IBM TS1130 is based on longitudinal half-inch tape), but without practical application.
Also for the first time, IBM has added what the company calls 'Head overcoat technology, offering improved head protection and wear characteristics.
As Sun, IBM sells different 3590-style cartridge capacities for the TS1130: 1TB (extended), 640GB (standard) and 128GB (economy).
The new drive and cartridges can be integrated in the following IBM's libraries: TS3400, TS3500, Total Storage 3494 and Silo Compatible 3592 model C20.
Sun has FC and Ficon connections. IBM has also added Escon, but for the Ficon and Escon models, you need to add a controller (TS1120 C06 or 3592 J70).
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