Spectra Logic says its TFinity ExaScale, T950, T950v and T380 Tape Libraries will support the new tape drive and media from IBM. When fully populated with the TS1160 tape drives and media, a TFinity ExaScale will store and allow access to more than 2 exabytes (2,000 petabytes) of data, making Spectra’s TFinity ExaScale Tape Library the largest single data storage machine in the world, it states.

The TS1160 tape drive and media expands storage capacity to 20TB per cartridge (uncompressed), increases data throughput to 400 MB per second (uncompressed), and delivers twice the Fibre Channel interface speed at 16 Gigabit per second or up to 25 Gbps Ethernet.

Spectra CEO Nathan Thompson, said, “To achieve this level of technological advancement, a new custom ASIC chip was developed by IBM; one that will be used in future generations of TS and LTO enterprise tape technologies, including LTO-9. Ongoing engineering feats such as these underscore the value and longevity of tape technology and validate Spectra’s commitment to offering best-in-class tape solutions that align with tape’s extensive roadmap.”

The upcoming JE tape cartridge, which works with the TS1160 tape drive, is engineered with aligned Barium Ferrite (BaFe) particles that are said to provide better signal-to-noise ratios, enabling a native storage capacity of 20TB per cartridge. In addition, the same TMR (Tunneling Magneto-Resistive) head used to achieve higher capacities and speeds in the TS1155 and LTO-8 drives are being used for the TS1160 drive. Spectra’s new tape offerings are designed to read and write media formatted by the TS1155 and TS1150 drives and read tapes formatted by drives older than two generations.

“Tape is the most reliable and economical storage technology available to protect massive amounts of data,” said Fred Moore, president of Horison Information Strategies. “The tape industry continues to keep pace with published roadmaps and surpass other media types by leveraging technology innovations from the prior generation and designing new components for each subsequent generation.