Reliable back-ups in shrinking backup windows - Top Technology Showcase - StorageTek's T9940B - Brief Article

Computer Technology Review, Oct, 2002 by Nick Schultz

StorageTek's newest tape drive is ideal for users needing to collect, move, and store large volumes of critical data quickly and with added reliability. Offering a 30MB/sec native data transfer (up to 252GB/hour, compressed), 200GB (native) cartridge capacity, 70% tape motion duty cycles, the T9940B presents exceptional data movement and significantly lowered failure rates. Implementation may significantly lower TCO for customers requiring this scope of data protection by offering an attractive cost-per-gigabyte-stored.

The T9940B provides a high-end solution for data-intensive applications such as backup and recovery, archiving digital assets, and scientific data acquisition and processing. It is the most cost-effective solution for reliable, expeditious, secure movement of highly valuable data across all networks and systems. Native 2GB Fibre Channel (FC) interface, like fast access T9840B before it, enables seamless, high-speed connectivity for storage area network (SAN) environments. Direct native fabric connectivity ensures that customers can leverage the T9940B to support their SANs without the need for an additional adaptor device.

The T9940B also features StorageTek's proprietary VolSafe advanced WORM (write-once, read-many) technology supporting today's stringent electronic data storage regulatory mandates, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's "non-erasable and non-rewritable" requirements. VolSafe has the ability to maintain the integrity and preservation of legally sensitive data, as well as the ability to cost-effectively store and retrieve this information.

"The introduction of the T9940B tape drive demonstrates StorageTek's commitment to high-performance tape technology," said Robert Amatruda, research manager at TDC. "StorageTek's T9940B will address customer challenges of executing reliable back-ups with ever-shrinking back-up windows."

The StorageTek T9940B is also backward-read-compatible with, and uses the same tape cartridge as, the first-generation T9940A, protecting users' media investments and extending the functionality of previous StorageTek tape libraries. The T9940B tape drive will be generally available worldwide in November with 9940 VolSafe tape cartridges available in early 2003.

www.storagetek.com