In Storage, Innovation Has Been Key To Providing Quality And Choice - Technology Information

Computer Technology Review, Nov, 2000 by Steven A. Solomon

The 1990s-those were the Li days. It's impossible to look back at the past decade of technological innovation in storage media and not be overwhelmed by just how far we have progressed. In 1990, a PC with Intel's 386 chip and a 100MB hard drive was considered a powerhouse. And, in those days, most people backed up with cassette tapes and saved and exchanged files on 5.25inch floppy disks (that were actually floppy) with storage capacities of 360 kilobytes and 1.2 megabytes. That may sound miniscule by today's standards, but given the size of the data files created by that generation's programs, one could fit an entire file drawer on one floppy. Who could have imagined back then that we would eventually need storage media that could hold more data?

In the early 1990s the 3.5inch floppy disk was the most popular product for desktop storage. The 3.5-inch floppy quickly became a hot commodity that boasted a storage capacity of 1.44MB. For the following few years, the 3.5inch 1.44MB floppy remained the singular option-the standard-for desktop storage.

However, by the end of 1992, industry hardware and media manufacturers realized that the removable data storage category had to be expanded as file size increased. Consumers, small organizations, and large enterprises, with differing requirements and multiple applications, were computerizing more of their activities and vital business functions.

And, as a result, something became crystal clear- the need for choice among formats that offered a range of transfer rates and storage capacities. With this choice of storage formats from which to choose, end users began to face a number of questions:

* What file sizes and file types will be stored? 8 Who will need access to this data?

* How fast do we need to access this data?

* How long do we need to store this data?

* How much can we afford for storage?

These questions look familiar, don't they? These are the same questions that end users must ask themselves today as they survey the range of storage solutions available to them.

For a better picture of today's growing storage capacity needs, consider the following representative samples of storage capacity:

One page of ASCII characters requires approximately 2KB of storage; therefore, 1GB stores approximately 500,000 ASCII pages.

A black and white document scanned at 200 dots per inch (dpi) and compressed 10:1 requires approximately 50KB of storage; therefore, 1GB stores approximately 20,000 page-size documents. Without compression, 1GB stores only approximately 2,000 scanned pages.

A full-color page scanned at 200 dots per inch (dpi) requires approximately 12MB of storage; therefore, 1GB stores as few as 83 full-color, page-size documents (depending upon the color mode).

Resolution has a major effect on the number of bytes generated when scanning documents or images. If the resolution of a document or image is doubled from 200 dpi to 400 dpi, the number of bytes per document is quadrupled.

To accommodate the growth of file size, many technologically innovative companies began developing new technologies that would deliver great leaps in storage capacity, performance, and reliability. For example, in 1995, the 100MB Zip disk was introduced. In that same year, another high-capacity, midrange storage format made its debut-DLTtape IV.

When drive manufacturers Quantum and Fujifilm first worked together to introduce DLTtape IV media, it offered the then-unrivaled capacity of 20GB (40GB/compressed) operating on the DLT 4000 drive. With the DLT 8000 drive, DLTtape IV offered a native sustained data transfer rate of 6MB/second and a capacity of 40GB (80GB/compressed). It was the ideal solution for mid- to large-size businesses that were seeking to meet the higher-capacity, faster transfer rates, and increased reliability required by midrange systems, network servers, and high-end workstations.

As DLTtape technology has evolved over time, it has maintained backward read and write compatibility with the full line of DLTtape drives. At the same time, the promise of future compatibility and upgradeability has helped to make DLTtape IV tape cartridges today's most widely used data storage medium of its kind.

The New Next-Generation Formats: ITO And Super DLTtape

This summer, the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) consortium of Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Seagate reported that Fujifilm was one of only two media manufacturers that had successfully completed the verification testing process for manufacturing Ultrium 1 100GB tape cartridges. In August, Fujifilm announced it would begin branding its own Ultrium 1 data cartridges and shipping Ultrium 1 product to IBM and other drive makers as well as to private label media manufacturers.

LTO Ultrium takes both capacity and speed to the next level. It offers a first-generation native capacity of 100GB (200GB/compressed) and a native transfer rate of 1020MB/sec. A fourth-generation migration path will bring a compressed capacity of 1 .6TB with an unrivaled data transfer rate of 320MB/Sec. Joining DLTtape IV in the mid-range and enterprise stQrage market place, the LTO Ultrium format offers businesses a new alternative for reliable, high-quality tape backup solutions.