LTO6 Tape Media now available

IBM Storage Media is pleased to announce the arrival of the IBM System Storage LTO Ultrium 6 Data Cartridge. Featuring high-capacity and high-reliability, users can store 6.25TB (compressed) and 2.5TB (native) The LTO-6 drive enables organisations to address the increasing amounts of data that require large capacity, affordable offline backup, and archiving.

Features of the IBM LTO Ultrium Generation 6 include:

• High-capacity and high-reliability; capacity of 2.5TB native, 6.25TB compressed*
• Barium Ferrite – BaFe particle; IBM LTO6 Tape Drive was designed and developed specifically for the IBM LTO6 Media.
• Partitioning and IBM Linear Tape File System™, both supported by IBM LTO Ultrium 6 drives to help improve data  management on tape media.
• IBM LTO Ultrium 6 drives continue to provide Data Encryption.
• Each cartridge is embedded with an LTO Cartridge Memory (LTO-CM) Chip, which enables fast, simultaneous transfer of cartridge-dependent data with IBM tape drives.
• Cartridge available as Rewriteable or WORM, write once, read many
• Library Pack and option available.
• Black color helps distinguish it from previous generations.

“With this next generation of LTO technology, we see tape moving from just being included in the data center game plan into a starring role,” said George Crump, Senior Analyst with Storage Switzerland.

The new Ultrium 6 Tape Drive supports media partitioning and self-describing tape with Linear Tape File System™ (LTFS) Library Edition and LTFS Storage Manager Software. Including an 8 Gbps Fiber Channel dual-ported interface attachment, the new IBM LTO6 Tape cartridge mounts in TS3500 Tape Library Model L53 or D53, and in 3584 Tape Library Models L52, L32, D52, or D32.

The recently finalised LTO-6 specifications support tape drive data transfer rates of up to 400MB per second for over 1.4 terabytes of storage performance an hour per drive. As with previous generations, LTO-6 drives will provide backward compatibility with the ability to read and write LTO generation 5 cartridges and read LTO generation 4 cartridges, helping to preserve media investments and ease implementation.

Check out Ultrium’s updated roadmap, which can be found here: http://www.ultrium.com/technology/roadmap.html