Half-height LTO2 tape drives: the key element in SMB storage strategies.

Three factors are driving the need for more sophisticated backup solutions within the SMB (small to medium-size business) market: the rapid growth of mission-critical digital content throughout all segments of business; the focus on disaster recovery strategies; and the increased burden of government regulated data retention. To address these factors, enterprise-level companies are incorporating LTO (Linear Tape Open) tape drives into their storage frameworks. This popular backup solution helps them access advanced features, higher capacities and better performance. Unfortunately, these drives were too expensive for most SMBs.

With the introduction of affordable half-height LTO2 tape drives, however, SMBs can for the first time incorporate LTO tape drives into their back-up plans. When compared with the alternatives available today, half-height LTO2 tape technology clearly stands out by offering SMBs great value, high performance and a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

When Disaster Strikes

SMB requirements have evolved rapidly over the past few years. The Internet has created the need for digital data access, server uptime, data protection and, when required, data recovery. The spread of viruses and worms as well as stricter data retention regulations have increased the sensitivity to data loss. The most common protection against data loss and resulting downtime is backing up servers and their data.

Compact, half-height LTO2 tape drives were developed as a direct response to the growing SMB need for faster, better, affordable data backup and recovery. The drive's lower power consumption saves energy costs. Its open format ensures compatibility. And its full interoperability, as designated by LTO Consortium specifications, protects SMB's technology investments by delineating an upgrade path for those who have already invested in LTO1 technology and by guaranteeing compatibility with LTO3 and future LTO generations.

The LTO Open Specifications

The LTO open specifications, announced in November 1997 by Seagate, Hewlett-Packard and IBM, addresses a set of common tape storage needs demanded in the marketplace. Recently, Tandberg Data became the fourth manufacturer offering LTO tape drives.

Prior to LTO, the market was dominated by single-source, proprietary technologies that posed serious concerns for the large system and server OEMs selling them. The foremost concerns were product allocation and competitive pricing because each vendor could control product distribution.

The LTO open specification, with multi-vendor support and products, eliminates these concerns. It is formulated to foster competition among suppliers for pricing, availability, quality, service and even development. The open specification also includes interchange capabilities between all LTO-licensed manufacturers, thereby ensuring that OEMs and end-users have a choice of tape drive and cartridge suppliers from which to buy. No manufacturer is allowed to use the LTO symbol or advertise LTO compliance without meeting the test and interchange specifications put forth by the consortium and tested by a consortium-specified third party testing facility.

Furthermore, the LTO roadmap includes six generations that extend many years into the future to guarantee investment protection and a long life for the LTO products that companies purchase.

The Benefits of Half-Height LTO2 Drives

In the face of exploding data growth and increasingly complex data management issues, some SMBs look to NAS (network attach storage) and SAN (storage area network) products to consolidate their data storage. Consolidating information, while very cost effective, opens the potential for disaster if this centralized repository of business-critical information is compromised by mechanical/electrical failure, viruses or even human error.

Fortunately, data consolidation also lends itself extremely well to centralized backup (e.g., a high performance tape drive or even an autoloader or small tape library. Furthermore, such backup typically includes removable media that can be safely stored offsite. This not only adds another layer of data protection, it also helps SMBs conform to government and industry regulations mandating data protection.

Half-height LTO2 tape drives deliver these capabilities at an affordable price, enabling SMBs to implement a true data protection strategy. They also outperform many larger tape drives by offering greater capacity, faster transfer rates and superior performance.

Half-height LTO2 data cartridges provide 20 percent more capacity than more expensive SDLT data cartridges and 250 percent more capacity than many DLT tape drives. This higher capacity delivers a clear cost benefit, especially for SMBs who archive large amounts of data. In addition, half-height LTO2 tape drives are a full 50 percent faster than SDLT drives and 300 percent faster than DLT VS drives--a critical performance advantage for SMBs engaged in 24/7 business environments with extremely limited backup windows.

The drives also offer enterprise-level features and benefits typical of higher priced LTO devices to further ensure reliability, performance and longevity. Features include automatic speed matching, in-line hardware data compression, media management, thermal sensors, tape threading, fast-seek algorithms, high-speed search and rewind and low power consumption. In addition, these compact drives fit into any standard half-height bay and can be mounted directly into existing and new servers from any major manufacturer.

Should You Consider a Half-Height Tape Drive?

Currently only three companies manufacture half-height tape drives: Tandberg Data, Quan-tum and Hewlett-Packard. Although all offer interchangeable parts and media, each has its own unique feature sets. Therefore, before making the purchase decision, you should ask yourself key questions such as:

How much storage capacity do you need--daily, weekly and monthly?

This will help you select drive size/technology or autoloader since the price ranges can overlap. It also helps determining media supply and that can effect technology selection on cost and storage space.

How big is my "backup window" and what speed do I need?

There is a big difference in technologies as well as drives with-in a technology when it relates to throughput. In the case of LTO, the different Generations, the different form factors and the different manufacturers result in different performance. It's important to test the drives as well because implementation differences by manufacturers may give different practical results relative to published specifications.

Is the solution scalable?

Both the ability to read/use older cartridges and plans for future products will vary by each technology. Select a scalable tape drive technology with a published roadmap and a clear upgrade path to higher capacity drives in the future.

Where will the tape drive be located?

When it comes to external tape drives, the form factors can vary quite a bit. And if you are mounting inside a server, the mounting provisions can differ significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. In addition be sure the size is quoted consistently with respect to bezels, connectors, etc.

Can you afford downtime?

MTBF is one specification that can give you an indication. More importantly, what is the reputation of the technology, the specific type of drive and/or the manufacturer? What diagnostics are provided for in field analysis? If it is an autoloader, how are diagnostics and service handled? These differences can be costly in terms of uptime and in terms of service costs. Warranty is only part of the picture. Implementation procedures are also important.

Are there environmental issues to be considered?

Small, hot computer rooms and racks, dirty and dusty surroundings and other environmental issues can cause overheating and debris-related media failures. Understanding the design can help you assess its fit in your environment. How does it handle tape? What is the cooling mechanism? How does the airflow? What is the power requirement? Not only are these critical to your environment, but also the media longevity and reliability can be strongly influenced by the environment created by the drive for the tape media.

Conclusion

For all their impressive specifications, features and benefits, half-height LTO2 drives are about half the price of the least expensive full-size drives. By offering high performance at a lower cost-per-gigabyte, by offering critical benefits and great reliability, half-height LTO2 tape drives lower the total cost of ownership (TCO)--a major consideration in the SMB purchasing decision.

There has to be reasons why LTO has grown to such a strong position in the industry and why it is projected to continue to grow stronger. Could it be the reliability of the technology and the creative migration into higher capacities, smaller form factors and lower costs? I'm pretty sure the market will tell us.

Ken Cruden is executive vice president and chief operating officer of Tandberg Data Corporation, Poway, CA

www.tandberg.com