HP Introduces TapeAlert to Assist Network Backup Management; HP Offers Technology as New Industry Standard

Business Wire, Feb 18, 1997

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 18, 1997-- Hewlett-Packard Company today announced the introduction of HP TapeAlert technology, a revolutionary new firmware technology for diagnosing tape-device storage problems. A self-diagnostic tool enabling network administrators at both local and remote sites to recognize storage problems as they occur, TapeAlert technology generates solutions to many problems currently encountered in the administration of tape storage.

TapeAlert technology will dispense comprehensive on-line advice -- via a network's backup software -- on events ranging from media and cleaning errors to more complex hardware problems and is expected to lead to improved reliability of tape storage. First implemented on HP's DAT drives, TapeAlert technology also has been offered as an open industry standard for adoption by software and hardware vendors and is already compatible with backup applications produced by Cheyenne, Seagate Software and Stac.

TapeAlert technology will be introduced as a component of HP's new DDS-3 drive, the SureStore DAT24, and is soon to be incorporated within the entire HP SureStore range, including Travan and DLT products. Through OpenView, HP's network administration application, TapeAlert technology also will become the first diagnostics tool to integrate tape-device information across an entire network -- meaning that a network administrator working in New York may remotely diagnose problems with a tape device in Los Angeles. The product initially will be available in English, German, French and Spanish, with a Japanese version in development.

HP, a world leader in network backup, also has presented TapeAlert technology as an open industry standard to the DDS Manufacturers Group, a move that underlines HP's customer-centric approach to providing solutions for every network-backup need. TapeAlert technology has been handed over to the wider network-backup market for development by competitive hardware and software vendors and is already compatible with Cheyenne's ARCserve for Netware/NT and Seagate Software's Backup Exec for Netware/NT. Stac's Replica for Netware is slated to be compatible by April, with Legato and Novastor expected to follow suit in the near future.

"The introduction of TapeAlert as a SureStore family feature is a further move in the direction of satisfying user needs," said Bob Peyton, director of European Storage Research at IDC Austria. "It's a unique aid for ensuring reliability, and, as an open industry standard, TapeAlert benefits the entire storage marketplace."

"TapeAlert's method of error-flagging and message-relaying offers the first 'intelligent' firmware application for data storage," said Larry McCulloch, research and development manager at HP Computer Peripherals Bristol. "TapeAlert technology suggests actions for both preventive maintenance and error recovery for storage devices and their media and is an invaluable tool for the network administrator. No longer will it be necessary to lose time and waste effort on the diagnosis of tape-storage problems. Rather, TapeAlert will provide the appropriate answers."

TapeAlert will be compatible with the HP OpenView for Windows network administration application. This will allow network administrators to monitor the state of storage devices remotely across an entire network from a remote network-management console and to be notified of TapeAlert events as they occur via OpenView alarms. TapeAlert's TapeAlert Manager feature within OpenView will enable network administrators to audit the state of data-storage hardware across a network (via TapeAlert's Alarm Log) and to monitor any dangerous trends that develop. This feature will economize the process of network administration by providing the user with a means of remotely assessing a network's storage facilities. TapeAlert can assist in pinpointing common problems at the server end and reduce time spent on correcting storage errors.

TapeAlert technology requires compatibility with tape-device hardware and backup software. The TapeAlert alarm procedure runs in the tape-device firmware, constantly checking for backup problems using device-specific information, and will identify an error when problem trigger conditions are met. The identification procedure sets high-level error flags, which are then read by the backup application. Predefined error messages are then logged, and the user is notified through normal methods.

TapeAlert also prioritizes error messages when registering them. From within the backup application, tape-device information is logged according to three priority codes: critical, warning and informational.

Hewlett-Packard's Information Storage Group, which focuses on the rapidly growing extended-storage market, manufactures and sells information-storage products based on tape, magneto-optical and CD technologies. HP storage solutions include digital-audio-tape (DAT) drives and digital-linear-tape (DLT) libraries, minicartridge (QIC) tape drives and software, CD-writeable drives, and magneto-optical drives and jukeboxes. HP also provides media for all these formats. These products are sold through a variety of distribution channels under the HP SureStore and HP Colorado brand names, as well as to OED customers.