Two-Thirds of Storage Environments Rely on Tape and Disk

The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Program and its technology provider companies, HP, IBM Corporation and Quantum Corp, released survey results showing that 66 percent of storage environments utilize a tiered storage infrastructure of disk and tape to address their storage requirements for performance, data retention compliance, disaster recovery and total cost of ownership.

The survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of 2008, focused on the views of more than 200 network administrators and mid-level technology specialists at mid- to large-sized companies throughout the United States.

“Those employing disk-based approaches are clearly looking to include tape in their backup and archiving strategies to address data protection and cost control objectives,” said Cindy Grossman, VP, Tape and Archive Systems, IBM Corp. “LTO tape technology offers a cost-effective solution with proven reliability, high capacity and high performance.”

According to the survey, managers currently operating disk-only systems are increasingly realizing the value of tape as more than 60 percent stated their intent to add tape back into the storage hierarchy, and of those respondents, 78 percent plan to add tape storage solutions within the next 12 months. Nearly 40 percent of managers operating tape-only environments are forecasting increased usage of tape, up from 22 percent last year.

“The survey suggests that storage managers in disk-only environments are seeking a cost-effective and reliable solution to provide an additional layer of backup and data protection to their current system — and they are increasingly turning to tape as an answer to that dilemma,” said David Geddes, senior vice president and partner at Fleishman-Hillard Research, who oversaw the study.

LTO-4 tape technology provides up to 800 GB of capacity (equivalent to 1.6TB assuming 2:1 compression) per cartridge and transfer rates of up to 120MB per second (equivalent to 240MB assuming 2:1 compression) for offline and offsite protection against intentional and unintentional data corruption. The format provides support for WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) tape functionality that allows companies to cost-effectively store data in a non-rewriteable format to help address regulated or non-regulated data retention needs. For security, LTO format generation 4 technology provides tape drive level-based encryption to enable the writing of encrypted data to the LTO-4 tape cartridge to help secure data during transportation and at rest.

LTO format generation 4 drives support backwards-compatible read-and-write capability with LTO generation 3 cartridges and backward read capabilities with LTO generation 2 cartridges, to help protect the investment customers have made in LTO products, and to provide easier migration for customers desiring to take advantage of the unique benefits of LTO-4.

How to License LTO Ultrium Technology
The LTO Program has historically offered media and drive manufacturers several different license packages – from enhanced packages that provide the specifications and licenses to manufacture LTO Ultrium products, to basic packages providing LTO format specifications.

Buyers seeking LTO Ultrium format-compliant products should look for the LTO Ultrium format compliance verification trademarks on both tape drives and data cartridges. Storage and media manufacturers interested in licensing LTO formats may obtain information by contacting the LTO Program.