Entries categorized under “Physical Tape”

SNW 2012 revealed a dynamic industry that is innovating across all storage tiers. From incorporating super-low-latency flash memory into the data center to new tape formats that essentially turn tape libraries into high-latency disk drives, lots of talent is being applied to meet the growing demands that enterprises have for their storage systems. (read more)

The factors that influenced which tape library to use in your environment used to be much simpler in nature when tape was used primarily as a backup target. But as disk has evolved to assume that role, tape libraries have evolved to provide new features so they may assume a much more strategic position within organizations to support their Big Data and Cloud initiatives. In this webcast, I take a look at how to choose the right tape library for your environment in light of these new forces that are impacting the use of tape libraries within organizations. (read more)

The tape pendulum is swinging back to the middle with more and more people coming to recognize that tape is more than alive; it has a bright future in front of it. However what people may fail to recognize is the many innovations going on right now in tape that are primed to be announced in just the next few years. In this fifth and final blog entry in my interview series with Spectra Logic's CEO Nathan Thompson, he pulls back the veil a bit and provides some insight into what we should expect tape libraries to deliver in the next few years. (read more)

Despite some claims to the contrary, the primary use case for tape remains in the context of backup. It is HOW tape is being used in the backup process that is changing. As it does, it is putting tape in a better position to solve certain data protection concerns that disk and even new flash media drives can never solve. In part IV of my interview series with Spectra Logic's CEO Nathan Thompson, he discusses why tape will remain an integral part of backup processes for a long time to come. (read more)

In today's information age our focus always tends to be on the here and now and how quickly we can access information that was made sometimes just seconds ago. But in terms of the total amount of data in the digital universe, that is just the tip of the iceberg with possibly as much as 90% of today's data existing as archival data. Ensuring the integrity of that data and making sure it is stored cost effectively for decades is the responsibility of today's new generation of tape libraries. In part 3 of my interview series with Spectra Logic's CEO Nathan Thompson, we discuss how tape libraries have continued to mature to meet today's new business demands for retaining archival data for even longer periods of time. (read more)

Despite the marketing buzz about the demise of tape, one almost indisputable fact remains: up to 80% of the world's data resides on tape. Statistics like that helped to convince Spectra Logic that there was a bright light at the end of the tape tunnel and prompted it to double down on tape products. In this second part of my interview with Spectra Logic's CEO, we discuss what Spectra Logic saw--that others did not--that led it to focus more heavily on tape as opposed to disk. (read more)

One of the most engaging and friendly CEOs one can hope to meet in the technology industry is none other than Spectra Logic's CEO Nathan Thompson who came from very humble beginnings and has worked hard to build Spectra Logic to what it is today - the leading manufacturer of tape libraries. However, how Spectra Logic came to assume this position is an interesting story in and of itself. Today, in the first part of this interview series with Nathan, he sheds some light on how Spectra Logic became so tape centric and even today views tape as an underserved market. (read more)

DCIG is very excited to announce the availability of its inaugural DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer's Guide that weights, scores and ranks over 140 features on more than 60 tape libraries from 8 different storage providers. Driven by the explosion of storage requirements to address "Big Data" and the "Cloud," organizations are now more than ever looking for cost-effective, viable storage media on which to store this data. This is why DCIG believes tape libraries are poised to be one of the big benefactors of these growing storage demands which prompted DCIG to produce its first ever Tape Library Buyer's Guide to help enterprises choose the right solution for their environment. (read more)

This year's spring Storage Networking World (SNW) 2012 show was unlike any other that I had attended in the past. While I had good conversations with the folks from FalconStor, HP, QLogic, Spectra Logic and Nimbus Data Systems among others, what was most remarkable about this SNW was the lack of notable new announcements around storage. (read more)

DCIG regularly talks to organizations that are confronted with continuing data growth, ongoing tape problems, saturated WAN links and overworked IT staff who recognize that changes to their existing backup environment are needed. However non-profits such as the Daughters of Charity Health Systems (DCHS) with limited funding for new technology purchases are particularly challenged as they have no margin for error. (read more)

Today is the last business day of 2011 and with it DCIG brings you our top most read and referenced blog entries. Each blog entry is compelling, yet timeless. What we find ironic about these blogs is that even as topics like "cloud," "deduplication," and "virtualization" generate a great deal of buzz, simple blog entries on storage, backup and data center labeling outperform them due to their foundations for IT leaders and practitioners. (read more)

Before DCIG announces its top three blog entries of 2011 tomorrow, this year we thought we would do something different and take a look at some other blog entries that garnered a great deal of attention throughout 2011 but not quite enough to reach the Top 10. That being the case, an honorable mention for these blog entries was in order. Further, what is notable about these entries is that, with the exception of one, they were all published in 2011. (read more)

Everyone asks, "Is tape dead?" Personally, I think that question is ridiculous. There will always be a demand for tape. The better question is, "How is the tape industry evolving to ensure tape remains relevant as a solution to address current technology trends such as "Big Data," "the Cloud" and virtualization?" This is the more pressing question regarding tape's future to which Spectra Logic provided some excellent answers this past week at its first ever analyst and press event. (read more)

Over the past 15 or so months DCIG has released a multitude of Buyer's Guides on topics ranging from Midrange Arrays to Virtual Server Backup Software to Small Enterprise Storage Arrays to Midrange Array Snapshot Software. As DCIG has done so, it has learned a great deal about what it has done right and areas where it can improve. But the general feedback is that the Buyer's Guides provide users valuable insight into different technologies and help them understand the market landscape. So today DCIG is announcing the topics for its Buyer's Guides that it plans to release for the remainder of 2011 and the first half of 2012. (read more)

When companies discuss their backup strategy, disk and tape are almost always part of that conversation. But in a recent interview that I did with Matt Jorgensen, the system administrator at Neumont University, we did more than talk about how the value of the Overland Storage's SnapServer N2000 and NEO 2000e in its backup strategy. We also discussed the critical role that the SnapServer N2000 plays in supporting the two different backup products in Neumont's environment. (read more)

To say that tape is currently viewed as a strategic initiative in most organizations could at best be described as optimistic and at worst a fabrication. But the continuing growth of rich media (social media in particular) and unstructured file data, much of which appears to be destined for the cloud, are creating an unprecedented demand for economical back end storage on which to store it. Tape is now better poised to become that storage media of choice but it still has a lot of growing up to do in order to gain broad market acceptance. (read more)

Yesterday the first ever Tape Summit kicked off at the Sunset Station Hotel and Casino in Henderson, NV, which is about 15 miles southeast of the Las Vegas strip. The opening night began with a keynote by Spectra Logic's VP of Marketing, Molly Rector, who cited a recent article by Storage Switzerland's George Crump where he said (paraphrasing) that what is saving tape is the same thing that saved Apple: innovation. I agree with his sentiments in part but I see innovation as only part of what is spurring tape's growth. (read more)

To many enterprise organizations, the question of whether or not they will store backup data in a cloud is already a foregone conclusion: it will be stored there. But that does not mean they should abandon tape in their new cloud-centered environment. Practical use cases for tape abound since tape enables enterprises to keep a firm, long-term grip on data that they temporarily or permanently store in the cloud. (read more)

Right here, right now, it's time to state what may sound preposterous to some and obvious to others. Disk has officially forever replaced tape as the primary target for backup software. But the reasons for this go much deeper than disk just now being cheaper, faster and easier to manage than tape. (read more)

This is it. The last day of 2010. So time to reveal what the top three most viewed blog entries on DCIG's website were in 2010. (read more)

Moving from "D2D2T" to "D2D2D" is sometimes seen as an unattainable hurdle that enterprise organizations cannot overcome when tape is used for secondary roles such as archiving or disaster recovery (DR). But replacing the "T" in "D2D2T" with a "D" is now practical, possible and affordable. Doing so simply means enterprises need to demonstrate that disk offers the same or more functionality than tape when used in these capacities while costing the same or less. (read more)

Of all the topics that I thought I might be writing about after my first day in attendance at the fall Storage Networking World (SNW) conference in 2010, I did not think tape would be it. In fact, it was not even on my radar screen walking into the show. But after meeting with the Ultrium LTO team yesterday at SNW, it is clear that tape is back in the storage conversation and those arguing for its broader adoption and continued use have much more to talk about than its power savings, larger capacities and faster speeds. (read more)

Some seem to think that virtualization for the sake of virtualization is the proper business objective because of how it helps reduce server and storage footprints, utilize physical resources more effectively or ultimately lower costs. Certainly these are proper short term goals but the real end game of virtualization is not simply to create a virtualized data center environment. It is to create one that fully automates IT operations. (read more)

Evidence. It is that crucial item that can exonerate a company or subject it to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in penalties. So in today's world where organizations are occasionally tasked with sorting through mountains of data stored on tape to locate a critical piece of information to proof innocence or guilt, the difference between the right technology and the wrong is what may determine whether or not an eDiscovery job gets done. (read more)

Over the past few years there has been a lot of hype that tape storage is being left dead. But while disk is capturing the fancy of enterprise organizations because of disk's success in solving their primary backup and recovery problems, longer-term issues with data management are just now starting to surface. It is for this reason that enterprise data centers are finding new tape library solutions such as the Overland Storage NEO 8000e well suited for their emerging archiving needs. (read more)