Spectra Logic Announces New Tape Features and Functionality

BOULDER, Colo., April 8, 2019 — Spectra Logic today announced several new tape enhancements to its family of tape libraries that help end users simplify and enhance their workflows. Spectra now offers Spectra Swarm, which adds Ethernet connectivity to Spectra LTO tape libraries. Spectra Swarm makes tape connectivity easier and 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 is tested and qualified to work with Spectra LTO tape libraries — Spectra Stack through Spectra T950.

While Fibre Channel continues to be fully available across all Spectra tape libraries, it is frequently being obsoleted in modern data centers. SAS tape drives, and in particular half-height SAS drives, provide a significant cost savings, allowing the addition of more drives for the same price, but SAS is not normally viable for connections beyond a single rack. Spectra Swarm solves that problem by utilizing a backbone 40GbE [Ethernet] RoCE or iSCSI connection that is then locally switched to multiple SAS-connected LTO drives.

Spectra Swarm Benefits

• Enables cost savings due to the ability to use lower-cost SAS half-height tape drives
• Eliminates the need for Fibre Channel with the conversion to a standard Ethernet backbone
• Delivers faster tape library performance with the addition of more tape drives for the price

For users needing extra data security, the Spectra Stack Tape Library now provides end users with even more protection with built-in BlueScale® encryption and key management. The new encryption feature enables Spectra Stack customers to protect their data through the same robust key management as Spectra’s other enterprise-class tape libraries. All Spectra Stack Tape Libraries come with standard encryption, which allows all tapes in a library to be encrypted automatically. This feature can be added to any existing Spectra Stack library with a free code upgrade. Tapes that were encrypted on any other Spectra tape library using BlueScale standard encryption can also be imported into a Spectra Stack and used seamlessly.

For users with immense data storage needs, Spectra now provides the IBM TS1160 drive and new JE media, for use in Spectra’s TFinity ExaScale Tape Library. When fully populated with the TS1160 tape drives and media, a TFinity ExaScale will store and allow access to more than 2 exabytes (2,000 petabytes) of compressed** data, making Spectra’s TFinity ExaScale Tape Library the largest single data storage machine in the world.

Spectra Swarm will be available in July.

“With the unprecedented growth of data and the need to keep it indefinitely, Spectra continues to invest in tape technology, including making tape connectivity easy,” said Matt Ninesling, director of tape engineering at Spectra Logic. “The world’s use of data continues to evolve and we’re working to ensure that tape storage, with all of its economic, capacity and performance benefits, advances with it.”

Visit Spectra at NAB

NAB visitors are invited to stop by Spectra Booth #SL11516 in the South Hall, Lower Level, in the Las Vegas Convention Center, between April 8 and 11. Spectra will highlight its full suite of content storage solutions for M&E.

**Compression ratio is 2.5:1

About Spectra Logic Corporation

Spectra Logic develops data storage solutions that solve the problem of short- and long-term digital preservation for business and technology professionals dealing with exponential data growth. Dedicated solely to storage innovation for 40 years, Spectra Logic’s uncompromising product and customer focus is proven by the adoption of its solutions by industry leaders in multiple vertical markets 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 http://www.SpectraLogic.com.

Source: Spectra Logic Corporation