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But can SuperDLT be far behind?
DLT tape is a survivor. Originally developed by Digital Electronics Corporation (DEC) as tape storage for DEC systems, what became known as DLT was part of a package of technologies purchased from DEC by Quantum Corporation.
Quantum's engineers improved the technology, making it compatible with a wide range of system servers.
A variety of improvements increased tape capacities, as well as data read and write speeds and overall performance. Drive reliability was a major strength of the DLT drives.
The late delivery by Exabyte of Mammoth tape drives created a vacuum that DLT quickly filled. The combination of high (for then) capacity, reliability, and availability helped DLT earn a leadership position in midlevel storage environments.
Inevitably, challengers have emerged, vying for a significant position in the same market areas that DLT has typically addressed. These challengers include two 8mm tape systems-Exabyte's Mammoth, and Sony's AIT, as well as an upgraded version of DLT (SuperDLT), Ultrium (the high capacity version of LTO), and other technologies that may challenge from above (i.e., 3490) and below (Ecrix, DDS4, Benchmark, and others). Second generation versions of AIT and Mammoth drives, cleverly named AIT-2 and Mammoth 2, respectively, were announced...