Tape Wars: Is The End Near? - tape drives - Industry Trend or Event

Computer Technology Review, Dec, 1999 by Mark Brownstein

All year, Computer Technology Review has been covering the tape drive business as if there was an ongoing war between DLT and all other technologies. Indeed, vendors of competing technologies may have thought that war as a fitting analogy--they knew who the leader was and had a clear target with which to compete.

The Tape Wars coverage in 1999 hasn't been merely the world against DLT--we also explored the other wars for different market segments--those whose primary strength was a low price, others best suited to mid-level requirements, and, of course, the markets served by DLT and drives with similar specs.

During this year, the size of tape drives has continued to balloon. In November 1998, 18GB drives were the new, big thing with a handful of 36GB drives announced, and only one or two 50GB drives being offered. By the end of this year, 36GB drives are available from many vendors with a broader range of 47 and 50GB drives aimed for the mainstream and a number of 72GB drives offered.

Although hard drive manufacturers are making drives of ever-increasing capacities because they can and, although there are serious questions relating to how much data should be put onto one spindle, the production of larger hard drives mirrors the increase in the amount of data being created and stored. The increasing amounts of data necessitate higher capacity, faster backup techniques, and, for many companies, this still means TAPE. Throughout the year, tape drives that meet these needs have been announced or begun shipping. Technology roadmaps hint at the future tape capacities that are being planned.

Fall Comdex, held in mid-November was an opportunity for the drive makers to parade their latest armaments, showing existing products, previewing products about to ship, and discussing somewhat longer-term strategies. A person who knew what to look for would have been able to find these drives embedded into other devices (for example, Ultrium, Super DLT, AIT-2, Mammoth-2, DLT1, VXA, and other future, or just released, drives, which were on display as part of automated tape systems). For this editor, access to private product suites made the process of gathering drive information even easier. Here's what's in store:

Super DLT

Quantum's DLT has been the target of choice for many midrange drive vendors. Although DLT is essentially pretty old technology, its sales have been little short of phenomenal. Since Quantum acquired DLT technology from Digital Equipment Corporation more than five years ago, it has improved the standard and done one hell of a job marketing this product.

A technology like DLT, with origins more than a decade old, has run out of steam. Future generations that are based on the original designs are impractical, if not impossible. Instead, new drives, offering higher performance and higher capacities, while providing read compatibility with existing DLT cartridges, represent the approach that was taken to creating new DLT technologies.

It is not inconceivable that one of the biggest competitors to DLT 7000 and 8000 drives will come from Quantum. The SDLT brings next millennium technology to the new drive. Instead of being a slight redesign of previous DLT drives, the SDLT drive represents a more "from scratch" approach, with late 1990s design methods replacing the 1980s designs in the DLT drives.

For example, the SDLT drive is a modular design. Each of five modules is engineered for easy assembly and easy replacement. The modules are assembled to form the complete SDLT drive.

By making the drive modular, it simplifies manufacturing and servicing--an added benefit is that Quantum can purchase modules from various sources. This multivendor approach helps buffer Quantum from parts shortages should a supplier have a delivery or manufacturing problem. It also enables Quantum to continually improve the drive by modifying a module, while avoiding the necessity of completely redesigning the drive to accommodate modifications.

Additionally, the components that enable the SDLT drive to be read compatible with DLT 4000, 7000, and 8000 drives is one that can be installed on a module--or not. In its first years, read compatibility may be important while customers migrate the data from their legacy DLT drives onto SDLT cartridges. At some time in the future, such backward read compatibility will no longer be necessary. Quantum will be able to offer SDLT drives without the legacy reader components and should be able to offer such drives at a reduced price.

SDLT features a wide range of additional improvements over the earlier DLT. Among these is an improved tape buckling system. In DLT drives, a tape with a broken tab could have been drawn into the DLT drive, resulting in the need for repairs of the drive and removal of the cartridge by Quantum or an authorized repair facility. SDLT drives support a new buckling mechanism for SDLT cartridges and support for existing DLT cartridges. The new mechanism will not load a DLT or SDLT cartridge with a damaged or defective tab.