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September 24, 2020

Spectra Logic Announces Industry’s First Tape Library to Store One Exabyte of Uncompressed Data Leveraging LTO-9 Technology

BOULDER, Colo.  Sept. 24, 2020 Spectra Logic, a leader in data storage and data management solutions, again has advanced the boundaries of tape technology with today’s news that the Spectra TFinity ExaScale Tape Library will now store an industry-first exabyte (one million terabytes) of uncompressed data in a single 45-frame system leveraging LTO-9 tape technology. As the world’s largest storage system, the Spectra TFinity Tape Library is considered a de facto standard in data-driven computing environments, providing unsurpassed storage density, scalability, reliability and affordability in the smallest footprint of any enterprise-class tape library.

Along with this news, Spectra is offering a new e-book that outlines the most cost-effective and beneficial approaches to storing and protecting massive data sets that are exponentially growing, from five petabytes to one exabyte. A free copy of the e-book is available here.

The ninth generation of LTO technology surpasses the per-cartridge capacity of LTO-8 by 50 percent to 18TB native, and advances full height LTO-9 drive performance by 15 percent to 400 MB/s native. Extending to Generation 12, the new LTO roadmap outlines future per-cartridge capacities of LTO technology, with LTO-10 achieving up to 36TB native; LTO-11 up to 72TB native, and LTO-12 up to 144TB native. This progression provides tape users with the assurance that their investment in tape is secure and that they will benefit from the best cost per gigabyte to store their data over its lifespan.

“We’re pleased to have the increased capacity and performance of LTO-9 tape technology, as well as the roadmap to LTO-12,” said Nathan Thompson, CEO of Spectra Logic. “The native 400MB/second transfer rate of the LTO-9 full height drive now matches the high performance Enterprise tape drive. We’re gratified to be the first in the industry to deliver a tape library that can store an astounding exabyte of native data with LTO-9 drives and media — and are pleased with the long-term roadmap of LTO.”

Spectra’s superior tape libraries have been selected to safeguard data for such premier organizations as British Film Institute, Imperial War Museums, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and University of Bristol, to name but a few.

Spectra’s complete line of tape libraries, including the Spectra TFinity ExaScale, T950, T950v, T680, T380 T200, T120, T50e and Spectra Stack, will integrate with LTO-9 tape technology, and support LTFS, WORM, hardware encryption, and Spectra’s exclusive Media Lifecycle Management. Certified with all major ISV packages for the data center, Spectra’s tape libraries also seamlessly integrate with Spectra’s BlackPearl Object Storage Platform, allowing users to create a multi-storage ecosystem for maximum data access, storage and preservation to disk, tape and cloud.

“Spectra’s tape libraries provide dependable protection for data at a cost significantly lower than flash or cloud,” said Fred Moore, president of Horison Information Strategies. “In addition, Spectra’s tape libraries offer users an extra layer of protection because tape is an “air gap” technology. There is no electronic connection to the data on a removable tape cartridge, which prevents malware and ransomware attacks. Unlike disk systems that remain online and vulnerable to a cybercrime attack, tape is the ideal safety net for long-term data preservation.”

Unmatched Features of the Spectra TFinity ExaScale Tape Library

In addition to delivering an exabyte of uncompressed storage capacity in a single system, Spectra’s TFinity addresses exponential data growth in such industries as high performance computing, scientific research, media and entertainment, cloud storage, education, healthcare, finance and traditional IT. The Spectra TFinity provides organizations with the ultimate in capacity, performance, reliability and flexibility at a much lower price point than other storage options.

Highlights of TFinity include:

  • Tri-Media – The only tape library to support three tape technologies in the same library (LTO, IBM’s TS 11xx and Oracle’s T10000)
  • Scalable from 3 to 45 frames, over 56,000 slots, with bulk load capability
  • Advanced robotics for higher performance and greater reliability
  • Only tape library with isolation service frames for high availability robotic serviceability
  • Modern linear design fits in standard rack-row data center environment
  • Enhanced management controls with user-friendly interface for greater productivity
  • Modular design that allows for easy service and upgradeability
  • Maximum compatibility to work with any third-party software package
  • Media Lifecycle Management, Data Integrity Verification and CarbideClean make Spectra Certified Media the highest quality media available
  • Custom front library panels to showcase customer brand

To make connectivity easier, Spectra now offers Spectra Swarm, which adds Ethernet connectivity to Spectra LTO tape libraries. Spectra Swarm adds a modern interface to LTO tape libraries by leveraging all of the same infrastructure and networking capabilities as the rest of the equipment in a modern data center. Spectra Swarm works with Spectra LTO tape libraries, from Spectra Stack through TFinity.

About Spectra Logic Corporation

Spectra Logic develops data storage and data management solutions that solve the problem of long-term digital preservation for organizations dealing with exponential data growth. Dedicated solely to storage innovation for over 40 years, Spectra Logic’s uncompromising product and customer focus is proven by the adoption of its solutions by leaders in multiple industries globally. Spectra enables affordable, multi-decade data storage and access by creating new methods of managing information in all forms of storage — including archive, backup, cold storage, private cloud and public cloud. To learn more, visit www.SpectraLogic.com.

Source: Spectra Logic Corp.

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