/ 06.21.2011 12:00AM
LTO Program Announces Availability of Ultrium Licenses
SILICON VALLEY, CALIF.: The Linear
Tape-Open Program Technology Provider Companies--HP, IBM and Quantum--announced
the availability of licenses for the LTO Ultrium Generation 6 format.
Although the LTO Ultrium Generation 6 format is still in development, the TPCs
have provided the opportunity for licensees to gain insight on the emerging
tape specification through a series of regular discussions surrounding its
development. This visibility into the specification is intended to enhance
licensee product development programs.
Plans for specifications for the Generation 6 tape cartridge include capacity
of up to 8 TB, almost triple the capacity over the previous generation, and
tape drive data transfer rates of up to 525 MB per second. Also included are
features from previous generations of the LTO Ultrium format, such as
encryption to help protect data in transition, Write Once Read Many support to
help address data security and compliance needs, as well as the dual
partitioning feature, introduced in Generation 5, which when utilized by the
Linear Tape File System specification can help provide faster data access and
improve data management.
“LTO technology’s latest advancement was developed with the understanding that
tape-based archiving continues to be a critical component of clients’ overall
storage strategy,” said Chris Powers, director of Nearline Solutions, HP. “LTO
Generation 6 enables vendors to deliver storage solutions with performance
benefits as well as increased data capacity.”
Plans for LTO Ultrium 6 drive specifications include backwards-compatible
read-and-write capability with LTO Ultrium 5 cartridges, and
backwards-compatible read capabilities with LTO Ultrium 4 cartridges, helping
to protect investments and ease implementation.
The LTO Program offers several different license packages--from enhanced
packages that provide the specs and licenses to manufacture LTO Ultrium
products, to basic packages providing LTO Ultrium format specifications.