LTO Ultrium Tape…A Breakthrough Product In Data Storage

PMD Magnetics is one of the longest standing suppliers of LTO tape media in Europe, starting the business back in 1977.

Managing Director, Geoff Dance confirms his thoughts on whether LTO-8 has earned the right to be named as a breakthrough product for 2019. "The latest generation of LTO Ultrium tape, LTO-8, provides a huge 30TB capacity per tape and a write speed of up to 360MB/s. No other storage media technology keeps pace with today's expanding data demands quite like LTO tape."

What about the Cloud I can hear you say? Yes what about the cloud…ever wondered how the cost of cloud storage gets so low? The answer…LTO tape and lots of it! High capacity data tape is the de facto format to protect the most valuable digital assets for future generations being able to be removed and stored offline for up to 30 years or more.

LTO tape storage keeps up with accelerating data growth, offers the lowest environment and energy footprint of any data storage, and provides security from cyber-attacks and ransomware threats.

PMD Magnetics Sales Director Sam Wilks acknowledges how vital LTO tape is for the Media & Entertainment (M&E) market.

"The M&E industry is living through a technological explosion! When you look at the progression of video resolution… HD, 2K, 4K, and 8K it goes on. More and more data is finding its way onto LTO tape with most video content having at least one copy stored on a LTO tape. The introduction of LTO-8 media in 2019 with double the capacity of the previous generation has been most timely for PMD customers and the industry to help harness the huge data growth being generated."

Recent advances in big-data analytics and artificial intelligence have created a necessity for enterprises to store and protect amassed information which they have accumulated from every measurable aspect of their businesses.  
LTO tape is also one of the very few technologies providing a technology roadmap, something which is invaluable to CTO's planning the next 5-10 years of data growth for their business. Furthermore the LTO format has already established under lab conditions that it can achieve a gobsmacking 220TB on a single tape…It certainly looks like a long and secure road! In fact LTO-8 is currently delivering only 6% of the anticipated capacity of future generations of LTO tape media (Gen.12/480TB).

Another (perhaps lesser known) reason for LTO-8 being a breakthrough product in 2019 is down to who makes it. Disputes between Fujifilm and Sony Corporations over patents and manufacturing issues have been resolved so that the global supply of LTO-8 has fully resumed.

With LTO-8 production springing into to life, it has pressed forward. Going from strength to strength, LTO-8 tape drive sales have increased dramatically and LTO tape sales as a result have kept close company. Both new and existing LTO technology users are showing their investment in this much needed core technology for long-term data storage is only likely to increase.

PMD Magnetics is well known for the good company it keeps with many large technology partners. One such partner is Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). PMD recently celebrated with HPE when it confirmed the 100,000,000 million milestone for LTO tapes sold around the world. Unsurprisingly the technology giant HPE is still hungry for business when we spoke to Andrew Dodd - Worldwide Marketing Communications Manager at HPE Storage.
Andrew said: "One of the key benefits of LTO Ultrium format is its durability. When you think how disruptive the world of data storage has become, there are not many core technologies and solutions that have been able to innovate and remain relevant for as long as LTO tape.

"In the last 19 years Hewlett Packard Enterprise has shipped one LTO cartridge every six seconds, with an aggregate capacity of some 195 Billion gigabytes!

"In that vein, it's a real tribute to PMD Magnetics that it has been a key part of the HPE 100 Million success story over such a very long period of time.
HPE are far from finished with the LTO story. The analyst IDC estimates that between now and 2025, over 1 trillion gigabytes of archival storage is going to be required. That's a big market HPE and PMD Magnetics would like to see as much of it on tape as possible!"

www.pmdmagnetics.com

www.pmddatasolutions.com