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Tape for tiered storage architectures ...contd. from previous page
As storage area networks (SAN) become prevalent and companies start implementing tiered storage architectures, tape will be required to deliver even stronger capacity offering, as much as 10 terabytes per cartridge, while maintaining SAN-ready speeds. It is also expected that these multi-terabyte devices will cost less than US$1000, or just pennies per gigabyte.
Additionally, there will be major improvements in manageability and functionality, as well as security – new encryption features and enhanced administrative controls, at the media, device and system levels, including better physical controls.
Demand for the new generation of DLT/SDLT and LTO tape drives is rising, along with midrange drives, autoloaders and compact libraries. Researchers Robert Baird report that 40 per cent of end-users plan to increase their spending on tape products this year compared to 2004.
In some industries, tape-based solutions are even attracting new users – e.g., for primary storage and data protection for professional video, surveillance and mass data collection.
There is also room for new types of disk-based solutions which complement tape – for example, virtual tape, which offers an integrated disk and software solution that is easy to manage and optimized for use in conjunction with tape. New data compression technologies make virtual tape even more attractive to users.
New diagnostic tools which monitor drive and media health and provide a level of predictive failure capabilities, also make virtual tape much more attractive, along with new features which help with compliance.
Some analysts suggest there’s a battle between different formats within the tape sector, but the fact is LTO will co-exist with SDLT in the same way as tape-based and disk-based solutions, because they meet a range of different customer data protection needs.
For customers seeking a reliable, high-capacity drive, SDLT (or DLT-S) is the optimum solution because it is particularly well suited to disk-to-tape environments where customers need high capacity rather than high-speed performance. For end users looking for high-speed performance, LTO may be a better solution.
No matter how storage technology evolves over the next few years, most users will need a more balanced approach. Tape will continue to play a key role in data protection, and users who pursue Information Lifecycle Management or a tiered-storage model will need different tiers of storage, matched to data at different stages of its lifecycle, with disk-based backup products providing rapid access to more recent data, and tape providing offline copies of data.
The article is authored by Sunny John, Country manager, Quantum
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