History 2003: Quantum Moves Ahead of LTO-2 with SDLT 600

The race between LTO and SDLT is more like a yoyo contest

At the starting line, back in early 2000, LTO-1 (native 100GB/15MB/s) was in a dead heat with SDLT 220 (110/11) introduced in March 2001, only to fall behind SOLT 320 (160/16) in 2002, which then lost a couple of lengths to the new LTO-2 (200/30-35) in early 2002.

Quantum SDLT 600

Quantum has taken the lead again with its new SDLT 600 (300/36) slated for availability to customers during the current 4003.

How long will it hang on to this lead? Most likely for a minimum of 6 months, since LT0-3 is expected mid-2004, with at least a 6-month lead on SDLT 1200 (600/70), which George Kreigler SVP and GM of Quantum’s DLTtape group promises for the end of next year or early 2005.

You would think that with its original optical servo technology, Quantum has all it needs to leave LTO, with its pre-written magnetic servo bands, in the dust, but that hasn’t happened yet.

For SDLT 600, expect an Ultra160 SCSI version, as well as, for the first time, a native 2Gb FC model. Average time to access a file is 79s, and the unit is equipped with a generous 64MB buffer.

Kreigler has not revealed a price for the new model. He said that it will run about the same as the 320 at its release, in the $5,000 range, while the latter will drop to $4,200. He also mentioned a price of $.20 per GB for 600GB compressed, which translates to $120 for the new Super SD LT tape II cartridge (initially from by Maxell), still 600m in length, but using magnetic particle size that is 40% smaller than the previous generation.

Currently, LTO-2 media can be had for $110-$120, or roughly $.30/GB.

The SDLT 600 drive can read and read only SDLT 220/320 and VS160 cartridges – no others while LTO-2 is read-write compatible with LTO-1.

The product can of course also be found at Quantum partner Tandberg, which is citing a price of €5,745-€6,209 for the drive, depending on the configuration.

Will the new model succeed in halting LTO, which has slowly been eating into SDLT’s market share? For the user, the answer is more a matter of the future of the players involved, rather than specs. While SDLT may offer the best performance at the moment, it is supported by only 1 drive manufacturer, for which the most recent financial results have been less than stellar, compared to the 2 giants, HP and IBM, behind LTO.

At the same time, SDLT boasts a roadmap through to 1.2TB, while LTO’s currently stalls at 800GB.

There is another underdog: Sony, with its SAIT-1, delayed but expected soon, and not only for OEM library manufacturers, with both better specs (500/30) and a higher price tag (€13,000 with UltraSCSI interface and €15,000 with FC in external version).

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 190 on October 2003 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.