Why Tape Libraries Still Matter

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Tape libraries aren’t exactly a booming business or front-page news these days, but at the same time, they’re not faring all that badly in the face of the disk-based backup onslaught. According to Freeman Reports (Ojai, Calif.), total revenue from all tape libraries declined 15.6 percent in 2006 compared to 2005, while unit shipments declined 4.5 percent.

Despite those statistics, tape users purchased more than 50 percent more capacity as they migrated to higher-capacity and higher-performance tape drives and cartridges. Thus, what looks a fading industry on the surface is very much alive and kicking.

Revenue still amounted to a healthy $1.81 billion in 2006 and is expected to be $1.77 billion in 2007. According to Freeman Reports, it will rise to $2.15 billion by 2012. Within those numbers, older formats like 8-millimeter and DLT library sales continue to falter, offset by increased sales of LTO and half-inch cartridge libraries.

LTO has evolved into the dominant player, accounting for 88 percent of library unit shipments and 58 percent of library revenue. LTO capacity and throughput grew by leaps and bounds during the past few years. LTO-2 offered 200 GB native and 30-35 MB/s, whereas LTO-3 provides 400 GB and 80 MB/s, and the new LTO-4 delivers 400 GB and 120 MB/s. It is also the first open systems tape drive technology to incorporate native encryption.

With the growing popularity of disk-based backup and recovery solutions and the continued consolidation of tape library resources, however, tape is increasingly taking on a more specialized role in data protection. In many cases, tape is being used for disaster recovery and centralized backup.

“Corporations must retain data for long periods of time and ensure compliance with internal service-level agreements and government regulations,” said Mark Eastman, product line director, Tape Automation Systems for Quantum (San Jose, Calif.). “As a result, customers are demanding higher security, capacity, performance and reliability across their tape investments. Automation platforms incorporating the latest-generation LTO-4 technology deliver on these important features.”

Quantum

On the vendor side, the top players are Sun Microsystems (Santa Clara, Calif.), IBM (Armonk, N.Y.) and Quantum. Quantum gained serious ground in the enterprise tape library market with its acquisition of ADIC several years back.

At the high end of the scale, the Quantum Scalar i2000 has a starting price of $65,000. According to Eastman, the i2000 is designed to meet the rigors of high-duty-cycle data center operations and integration with disk-based backup solutions. It uses a standard 19-inch rack form and can holds 746 cartridges per square meter, as well as up to 192 LTO bulk loading slots in one library.

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