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6.67 billion bits per square inch lays foundation for future tape storage improvements
SAN JOSE, Calif. (May 16, 2006) -- IBM researchers today announced they have demonstrated a world record in data density on linear magnetic tape, a dramatic indication that one of the computer industry's oldest and still most affordable data storage technologies has the potential to provide increased capacity for years to come.
The researchers at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., packed data onto a test tape at a density of 6.67 billion bits per square inch -- more than 15 times the data density of today's most popular industry standard magnetic tape products. To achieve this feat they created several new data-recording technologies and worked with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. of Japan to develop a next-generation dual-coat magnetic tape capable of storing high-density data.
The demonstration shows that magnetic tape data storage should be able to maintain its cost advantage over other technologies for years to come. When these new technologies and tape become available in products – projected to be in about five years – a cartridge the size of an industry-standard Linear Tape Open (LTO) tape cartridge could hold up to 8 trillion bytes (terabytes) of uncompressed data. This is 20 times the capacity of today's LTO-Generation 3 cartridge, which is about half the size of a VHS videocassette. Eight terabytes of data is equivalent to the text in 8 million books, which would require 57 miles of bookshelves.
"Today's announcement tells our customers that IBM has the technology to continue to improve its tape products to address their growing needs for affordable and robust data storage," said Cindy Grossman, vice president, IBM Tape Storage Systems. "With analysts projecting tape automation revenue to grow 8 percent annually through 2011, our customers are storing increasing amounts of data to manage their enterprises and to address the compliance requirements of laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Greater data density and cartridge capacity enables them to store more data in less space, helping to keep magnetic tape as the most cost-effective form of data storage."
Businesses use magnetic tape to store large volumes of important data that are used infrequently or don't require sub-second access times. These uses include data archives, backup files, replicas for disaster recovery and retention of information required for regulatory compliance. Such data are often contained within automated tape libraries where one or more read-write units service dozens to thousands of tape cartridges. High-end tape libraries can thus store petabytes – millions of gigabytes – of information. On a per-gigabyte basis, tape systems are currently about one-fifth to one-tenth the cost of today's hard-disk-drive storage systems, depending on their size. Moreover, tape cartridges consume no energy unless they are being accessed – unlike spinning disks, which need occasional use to remain operational – providing another area of potential cost savings.
IBM's record-breaking demonstration trumped its 2002 recording of a terabyte of date onto a single 3592-sized cartridge at a density of 1 billion bits per square inch. Over the past two years, Almaden researchers worked closely with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., engineers on the development of a new dual coat magnetic tape media capable of high-density recording. The Almaden researchers also developed technologies to dramatically improve the capabilities of read-write heads and the methods for positioning the heads and handling the tape to enable data tracks one-tenth as wide as in current products. Scientists from IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory developed a new coding method that improved the accuracy of reading the tiny magnetic bits.
"This demonstration confirms IBM's continued leadership in magnetic tape technology," said Spike Narayan, senior manager of advanced technology concepts at IBM Almaden. "This is a major milestone in our program and gives magnetic tape the density boost that we gave hard-disk drives in the 1990s."
IBM has a long history of innovation in magnetic tape data storage. It's first commercial tape product, the 726 Magnetic Tape Unit, was announced 54 years ago next week. It used reels of half-inch-wide tape that each had a capacity of about 2 megabytes. In 2002, IBM demonstrated data capacity 500,000 times greater in its 1-terabyte cartridge demonstration. According to IDC, IBM was the 2005 revenue leader in the $4.82 billion worldwide branded tape drive and tape library automation marketplace.
Technical details:
IBM's world-record achievement leverages notable improvements in five areas of the magnetic tape system:
[ 300dpi image ]
Microscope image of new record (left) and today's product (right) data bits.
IBM researchers packed data onto magnetic tape at a world-record density of 6.67 billion linear bits per square inch (left) -- more than 15 times the data density of today's most popular industry standard magnetic tape products (LTO-3; right).
To achieve this feat the IBM researchers created several new tape-recording technologies and worked with Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. of Japan to develop a next-generation dual-coat magnetic tape capable of storing high-density data. As a result, the IBM researchers were able to position the read-write head with the accuracy and sensitivity to write and read data bits that were one-tenth the width and 60 percent the length of LTO-3 bits.
Technical details:
The right-hand image is centered on a single track of data, with bits measuring 15 microns wide and 0.1 microns long. In the center of the left-hand image, are six tracks of data with bits measuring 1.5 microns wide and 0.06 microns long.
In actuality, data is written onto tape in wide tracks and are progressively "shingled" over each other, leaving smaller-width tracks. The features on the left side of the left-hand image are a wide track, last to have been written, that has not yet been shingled. The dark bands on the right side of the left-hand image are servo marks that are used to accurately position the head.
Three data patterns are shown in the left-hand image:
