Sony launches 3G of AIT storage solution

CHENNAI: Sony has launched the third generation of Advanced Intelligent Tape

(AIT) technology for backup storage. AIT-3 is a compact 8-mm cartridge, which

can deliver up to 260 GB native capacity (with 2.6:1 compression). Sony has

organized seminars at Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Secunderabad, Pondicherry and

Chennai in association with their national distributor for storage solution Apex

Computers Pvt. LTD to showcase the significance of AIT technology and the new

products in the line.

Sony, which had introduced AIT in 1996, has been launching the upgraded

version of AIT every two-year. The third generation of AIT tape drives uses

Helical scan technology, which increases data recording density, while offering

fast data transfer rates of up to 12.0 MB/s. The unique Memory-In-Cassette (MIC)

feature of Sony AIT drives, with 64 KB of built-in programmable memory, speeds

access to data, providing fast loading (less than 10 seconds) and quick file

access (27 to 37 seconds). AIT-3 tape drives are fully read and write backward

compatible with AIT-2 media, 36 GB and 50 GB data cartridges, and AIT-1 media,

25 GB and 35 GB data cartridges.

"AIT is the post-DDS tape format. AIT product has a road map till AIT 6

and it addresses the different segments in the market, from the entry level to

the enterprise level. When it comes to upgrading you never come to the end of

migration," said Edmund Tan, Regional Product Manager, Enterprise Storage

Solutions, Electron Devices Marketing (A division company of Sony Electronics

(S) Pte Ltd. AIT-6, the last stage of AIT road map will be followed by S-AIT.

"Sony is at the fore-front where tape technology is concerned," he

added.

Sony will soon be launching Micro Vault, a flash memory-based, removable

(portable) storage media with an USB interface. It allows data exchange between

PC-to-PC and has a storage capacity starting from 16 MB to 128 MB.