We are often asked the question, “What is LTO Ultrium tape?” This doesn’t surprise us, as there are many organizations that are just opening their eyes to alternatives to disk-only data storage infrastructures.

LTO stand for Linear Tape-Open, or an open-format tape storage technology that was dreamt up and developed by IBM, HP, and Seagate (after a couple mergers Seagate is now Quantum.)

Basically, the term “open-format” means that users are able to use a handful of storage media products that are compatible with one another. The LTO Ultrium format is the high-capacity implementation of the technology.

The greatest thing about LTO tape is that it has gone through several impressive generations. Beginning the late 1990s, the LTO-1 offered up to 100 gigabytes of storage and a maximum transfer rate of 20 GB/s.

Fast forward to 2014 and the LTO-6 offers 2.5 TB of native data capacity and a maximum transfer rate of 160 MB/s. It is rumored that the LTO-7 will boast of 6.4 TB of native storage and a transfer rate of 315 MB/s.

Essentially, this means that massive amounts of data can be stored on the newest versions of LTO tape, making it ideal for data backups and long-term data storage.

There are a number of reasons to consider LTO tape including:

1. It is relatively inexpensive when compared to disk-only storage.

2. Data can be stored offline for 30 years and more. Tape happens to be one of the most reliable and durable mediums on the market.

3. Tape is recyclable and reusable.

4. The LTO consortium has the best interest of organizations at heart. They want to continually develop products that work together and make for the very best data infrastructure possible.

5. You can buy and sell used tape.

Looking to buy/sell new or used LTO tape? We can help you out. We’ll walk you through the entire process, and we’re always happy to answer all questions surrounding data storage.

Drop us an e-mail or give us a call to get started.

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