Content area
Full text
Only a few years ago, it wasn't hard to find analysts predicting that tape would disappear from enterprise storage, replaced by some combination of mirroring, RAID, replication, and server clustering. In fact, tape has never been stronger. We have many more viable options for tape storage today than three years ago. All of the major tape technology suppliers are working on next-generation products and a new consortium of suppliers is developing two entirely new formats. In addition, because of advances in both automated libraries and storage management software, the role of tape is actually expanding from server backup to more generalized, near-line storage.
Two of the technologies that have led the way in this explosion of tape are DLT and AIT. This article will compare the technologies, features, roadmaps, and applications for each.
Companies with vested interests in one technology or the other pen most articles that compare these technologies. This one is different. For at least five years, ADIC has pursued automated storage library development based on supporting the best drive technologies in the industry, regardless of which company developed them. At the present time, ADIC offers automated storage products that integrate more than a dozen different drive technologies, including both DLT and AT. These products range from 50,000-slot mixed media libraries all the way down to mid-range libraries, autoloaders and single-drive subsystems. The result is that ADIC has a unique perspective on the technologies, having seen them used in a wider range of application environments than any other storage vendor.
The verdict on DLT and AIT? Simple: both are powerful, reliable tools for storing and recovering data. But there are differences that could affect an IT manager's decision about which to use in specific situations.
History And The Technoloy Today
DLT was developed by Digital Equipment Corp. specifically to offer high speed, robust storage for digital asset protection. When Quantum Corporation bought the technology in 1994 and began introducing it to a larger market, it became obvious...