IBM has unveiled its TS1170 magnetic tape drive, boasting storage capacities of up to 50TB native with compression support. This product features a data rate of 400 MB/s and interfaces via 12Gb SAS and 16Gb Fibre Channel. Offering AES-256 encryption, it is also quantum cryptography resistant and LTFS ready, facilitating file-like access to tape data.
The drives are compatible with the new 3592 70F (JF media) tape cartridge media, utilizing Strontium Ferrite magnetic particles to achieve native storage capacities of up to 50TB. Manufactured by Fuji Film, the JF media does not offer backward compatibility with previous IBM drives. In contrast, prior-generation IBM enterprise tape cartridges supported up to 20TB native capacity, making the TS1170 a significant advancement.
These magnetic tape drives are versatile, supporting standalone use or integration into IBM’s TS4500 tape storage systems and other storage setups compatible with LTO and IBM’s 3592 Enterprise tapes. The TS4500 system can achieve archive storage capacities of up to 877TB native using JF media, potentially reaching 2.63 exabytes with compression. Moreover, the write once read many times (WORM) feature enhances data protection against malware threats by creating an air gap from the network.
IBM envisions developing future enterprise magnetic tape cartridges capable of storing 100TB of native data. While LTO 9 tapes currently offer 18TB native capacity, the forthcoming LTO 10 tapes are expected to double that capacity to 36TB. These advancements will enable more efficient data storage within limited physical spaces.
Higher tape cartridge capacities present opportunities for improved storage efficiency in terms of power consumption. However, the use of higher-capacity tapes may necessitate the employment of additional drives to enhance data access speed, potentially increasing overall system power requirements.
In light of the data center’s limited physical space and power constraints, leveraging high-density tape storage for archiving purposes proves beneficial. This approach allows for cost-effective and scalable data archiving, aligning with the escalating data generation and retention demands fueled by smart connected devices and AI technologies.
Magnetic tape technology remains a predominant choice for archiving cold data, complementing SSDs designed for primary storage and HDDs for secondary storage. While SSDs excel in high-performance primary storage, and HDDs offer cost-effective secondary storage, several SSD companies are striving to supplant HDDs in the secondary storage arena.
Archival storage serves as a repository for data with enduring value or those requiring long-term retention for legal compliance. This storage tier typically entails longer access times due to the physical loading of storage media for data read or write operations.
Although the storage capacity demand experienced a lull in 2022 and 2023 due to excess inventory, the continued growth of data generation from IoT, smart cities, connected vehicles, and AI applications is poised to drive demand for diverse digital storage technologies in the future.
IBM’s introduction of the JF magnetic tape media and the 50TB native capacity tape drive underscores the company’s commitment to providing cost-effective and sustainable archive storage solutions, underscoring the enduring significance of tape technology in the digital storage landscape.
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