Linear Tape Open Ultrium 8 Tape Drive is suitable for data partitioning.

IBM Oct 24, 2017

Press Release Summary:

Linear Tape Open Ultrium 8 Tape Drive allows user to preserve data with increased functionalities. Unit supports AME and AES-256 standard encryption and security key management. Product is available in 4Q17 and offers data transfer rate of up to 360MB/s. Tape drive comes with a storage capacity of 12 TB and 2.5X compression.

Original Press Release:

LTO-8 Soon Available From IBM

Native 12TB and 360MB/s, 2.5X more with compression

To improve security measures and safeguard critical information, enterprises spanning a variety of industries have long relied upon technology whose origins go back more than 65 years.

The reasons why tape storage remains part of today's overall data management plan are:

Cost
The ability to keep pace with performance
Tape's security capabilities

Being a physical media that can be kept under lock and key provides one layer of security. However, beyond locking away cartridges when not in use, encryption and WORM functionalities are providing users with deeper levels of data protection. Not satisfied with relying solely on security, tape engineers have also kept pace with performance.

According to the Tape Storage Council's State of the Tape Industry Report, tape data rates are expected to be as much as five times faster than HDD drives by 2025. This is great news for users whose archives include data from the IoT and big data analytics, as well as content from mobile and social systems, video streaming hybrid cloud workloads and traditional data center applications.

Introducing LTO-8

IBM is announcing its Linear Tape Open Ultrium 8 Tape drive (LTO-8), which doubles the capacity from its previous generation, shortens data access times by 20% and drives down costs below the half-cent per gigabyte barrier.

Christian Otte, server center manager, VEKA AG, manufacturer of windows and doors, says: "IBM's continued investment to increase performance that can help improve our ability to meet our security and regulatory requirements in tape technologies is important to our business. IBM's ongoing commitment to tape is providing more value than ever."

Available in 4Q17, LTO-8 joins a range of tape storage solutions providing clients with an economical choice in data preservation with increased functionalities. It maintains continued support for AME and AES-256 standard encryption, data partitioning and security key management while maintaining compatibility with LTO-7.

IBM Tape Storage - 65 years and counting

65 years ago our first marketed tape drive, the IBM 726, replaced a long-held and profitable punch card business. While a lifetime has passed since that time, it has not changed IBM's commitment to tape media as is evidenced by the recent tape milestone achieved by IBM and Sony. It demonstrated an ability to store up to 330TB of uncompressed data on a single tape cartridge the size of your hand.

Jon Toigo, chairman, Data Management Institute, and managing principal partner, Toigo Partners International LLC says: "The tape industry is consolidating around one drive maker and only a couple of media makers. That would signal alarm were it not for the capabilities and value that tape technology vendors, including IBM, are bringing to the storage medium. With the latest IBM announcements, the future for LTO tape technology has never looked brighter."