SNIA Creates LTFS Technical Work Group

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) announced the receipt of the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) Format Specification v 2.1 from industry as well as the formation of the LTFS Technical Work Group (LTFS TWG).

The TWG is expected to broaden the industry collaboration and adoption of the LTFS format as well as develop future versions of the specification. SNIA will partner with the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) to advance the specification through the national and international standards accreditation process.

The current version of the industry specification, which has been adopted by several vendors who provide tape-based solutions, aids with the ease of use, manageability, sharing, and interchangeability of data placed on tape. LTFS is currently deployed by enterprises challenged with managing, moving and accessing large digital files across industries like media and entertainment, digital surveillance, and medical imaging.

Some of the LTFS benefits include:

• directories appear on the desktop in the same way as a disk directory listing, leading to faster access to data when stored on tape, over traditional methods, since directories can appear on the desktop in the same way as a disk directory listing.
• Intuitive file operations by dragging and dropping files to and from a tape.
• Application and OS independence through use of an open, non-proprietary data format and a file system independent of specific software applications.

"SNIA is poised to bring the global industry together to continue to adopt and innovate around the LTFS Format Specification," said Wayne M. Adams, chairman of the SNIA. "With the ever increasing size of data objects and data sets, simplicity in managing, moving, storing and sharing the data in a standardized format with various cost-effective media-types has come to the forefront."

George Crump, chief steward, Storage Switzerland, added: "Because of the massive growth of data and the need to retain data for longer periods of time tape is experiencing a resurgence. A key to this resurgence is LTFS. SNIA’s receipt of the LTFS Format Specification and the establishment of the technical working group will move LTFS from a defacto standard to a true industry standard ensuring that vendors and users can count on LTFS to remain open and accessible. The working group should bring new ideas to the standard that will broaden LTFS’ appeal and its use cases."