Tape Drive provides up to 35 Mb/sec data transfer rate.

Press Release Summary:




TotalStorage Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 incorporates Linear Tape-Open TotalStorage Ultrium 2 Tape Drive, providing up to 200 GB native capacity per cartridge. It can read and write original LTO Ultrim Data Cartridges at 20 MB/sec native data transfer rate. Unit offers digital speed matching, power management, channel calibration, filemark writing, and 64 MB internal buffer. It comes with SCSI Ultra160 LVD attachment for connection to open system servers.



Original Press Release:



IBM TotalStorage Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 Incorporates New IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium 2 Tape Drive, Doubling Capacity and Performance



At a glance
The IBM TotalStorage Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 combines IBM tape reliability and performance at open systems prices. Features include:

o Designed to provide up to more than double the data transfer rate, up to 35 MB/sec native (up to 70 MB/sec with 2:1 compression) of the Ultrium 1 Tape Drive

o Doubles tape capacity, up to 200 GB native per cartridge (400 GB with 2:1 compression)

o Supports SCSI Ultra160 LVD attachment

o Offers enhanced features as compared to Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Ultrium 1 in digital speed matching, power management, channel calibration, filemark writing, internal buffer size, and faster drive speeds

o Adheres to LTO specifications

For ordering, contact:
Your IBM representative, an IBM Business Partner, or the Americas Call Centers at 800-IBM-CALL (Reference: YE001).

Overview
The IBM TotalStorage(TM) Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 is designed to offer high capacity, performance, and technology designed for the midrange open systems environment. It incorporates the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) IBM TotalStorage Ultrium 2 Tape Drive, which more than doubles tape drive performance over the generation 1 LTO Ultrium Tape Drive (Ultrium 1), up to 35 MB/sec native data transfer rate (70 MB/sec with 2:1 compression). In addition, with the use of the new IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium 200 GB Data Cartridge, the Ultrium 2 Tape Drive doubles the tape cartridge capacity up to 200 GB native capacity (400 GB with 2:1 compression). IBM Ultrium 2 Tape Drives can read and write original LTO Ultrium Data Cartridges at original Ultrium 1 capacities and with improved performance, up to 20 MB/sec native data transfer rate (40 MB/sec with 2:1 compression). The 3580 Model L23 comes with a SCSI Ultra160 LVD attachment for connection to a wide spectrum of open system servers.

Other Ultrium 2 Tape Drive enhancements include:

o Digital speed matching - to adjust the drive data rate with the host, which can help reduce backhitching and improve throughput performance

o Power management - designed to help reduce power consumption

o Channel calibration - to help customize each read/write data channel for optimum performance

o Separate writing of multiple filemarks - designed to help improve performance when writing multiple files

o Larger internal buffer - double the internal buffer size of the Ultrium 1, to 64 MB

o Faster drive speeds - designed to promote faster data access time, reduced rewind time, reduced cartridge load time, and faster cartridge fill time

The Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 is an external stand-alone or rack-mountable unit and is the entry point for the family of IBM Ultrium tape products. The Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 is designed to provide an excellent migration path from digital linear tape (DLT or SDLT), ¼ inch, 4mm, or 8mm tape drives.

Key prerequisites
Appropriate levels of host software are required to attach the IBM TotalStorage Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 to selected IBM xSeries®, Netfinity®, IBM iSeries(TM), AS/400®, IBM pSeries(TM), RS/6000®, HP, Sun, UNIX®, and PC servers. Refer to the Technical information section for details.

Planned availability date
September 12, 2003

Description
The Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 is an Ultrium 2 LVD tape drive in an external stand-alone unit and contains a Linear Tape-Open (LTO) tape drive designed for the heavy demands of backup tape storage. As an option, it can be mounted in a rack. It is supported for Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) attachment to xSeries, Netfinity, iSeries, AS/400, pSeries, RS/6000, HP, Sun, UNIX, and PC servers.

The Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 incorporates the IBM LTO Ultrium 2 Tape Drive and is the second generation LTO Ultrium Tape Drive in the IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium family of products. The Ultrium 2 Tape Drive offers the following significant improvements as compared to the Ultrium 1 Tape Drive:

Performance - Tape drive data transfer rate is designed to more than double, up to 35 MB/sec native data transfer rate (70 MB/sec with 2:1 compression). IBM Ultrium 2 Tape Drives are designed to read and write original LTO Ultrium Data Cartridges at original Ultrium 1 capacities and with improved performance, up to 20 MB/sec native data transfer rate (40 MB/sec with 2:1 compression).

Note: Although the Ultrium Tape Drive 3580 Model L23 provides the capability for high tape performance, other components of the system may limit the actual performance achieved. Also, although the compression technology used in the tape drive can typically double the amount of data that can be stored on the media, the actual degree of compression achieved is highly sensitive to the characteristics of the data being compressed.

Capacity - The tape cartridge capacity is doubled over the original Ultrium Data Cartridge, up to 200 GB native capacity (400 GB with 2:1 compression), with the use of the new IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium 200 GB Data Cartridge. Both cartridges have been designed to provide several enhancements to previous tape technologies. They are designed to work with tape drives that have increased tape speeds and high-density data recording. The tape itself is an advanced metal particle tape developed for durability and capacity.

Digital speed matching - The Ultrium 2 Tape Drive is designed to perform dynamic speed matching to adjust the drive's native data rate as closely as possible to the net host data rate (after data compressibility has been factored out). This provides the dual benefit of reducing the number of backhitch repositions and improving throughput performance.

Power management - The Ultrium 2 Tape Drive power management function controls the drive electronics to be either completely turned off or in a low-power mode. These power modes occur only when the circuit functions are not needed for drive operation.

Channel calibration - The Ultrium 2 Tape Drive channel calibration feature allows for customization of each read/write data channel for optimum performance. The customization enables compensation for variations in the recording channel transfer function, media characteristics, and read/write head characteristics.

Separate writing of multiple filemarks - Separate writing of multiple filemarks causes any write command of two or more filemarks to cause a separate dataset to be written containing all filemarks after the first. This feature has two advantages: first, it improves performance if a subsequent append overwrites somewhere after the first filemark; second, write of multiple filemarks typically indicates a point where an append operation might occur after the first of these filemarks. This change prevents having to rewrite datasets containing customer data and the first filemark if such an append occurs.

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