HP, IBM Corporation and Quantum Corporation, the three technology provider companies for the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Program, today announced that the LTO Ultrium format has shown strong performance during 2007 with double digit sales growth, according to new industry data from IDC. This strong growth is driven by the need to protect data using a best practices approach as well as the security, energy efficiency and low TCO advantages that tape storage offers organizations.

The report shows that total midrange tape drive shipments grew by 10 percent in 2007 when compared to 2006 and LTO tape drive shipments grew 15 percent. According to IDC, over $883.1 million of LTO tape drives shipped in 2007.

“The LTO format has evolved throughout each generation to provide ever-higher capacities, ever-higher performance and one of the lowest total cost of ownership propositions for midrange data protection in the industry,” said Robert Amatruda, analyst, IDC. “The LTO share numbers demonstrate that LTO tape continues to thrive, provides a vital, foundational part of a best practices approach to data protection, as well as provides energy savings over disk-only solutions to support green data center initiatives.”

The format’s adoption in tape automation is up three percent from the end of 2006.

“Tape is one of the most efficient ways to address data protection, delivering cost-efficiency and energy efficiency to business,” said Rob Clark, senior director, removable storage solutions for Quantum. “As we look over the landscape of challenges that storage administrators need to address in their day-to-day operations, we are committed to providing the functionality and value that business will require today and in the coming years.”

LTO format generation 4 technology delivers the backup and archiving features needed by today’s storage personnel, including high capacity, blazing performance and substantial data protection features. And, with low energy consumption, LTO tape products can also provide organizations with a green backup and archiving solution for their data centers.

Providing up to 1.6TB of capacity (assuming 2:1 compression) per cartridge, LTO-4 tape drive products bring transfer rates up to 240MB per second (assuming 2:1 compression), offers WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) functionality that provides cost-effective means for storing data in a non-rewriteable format to help address compliance needs. Support for 256-bit AES-GCM encryption capabilities at the tape drive level is designed to enable the writing of encrypted data to the LTO Ultrium tape cartridge, helping to protect information on the tapes during storage and transportation.

LTO format generation 4 drives support backwards-compatible read-and-write capability with LTO generation 3 cartridges and backward read capabilities with LTO generation 2 cartridges, to help protect the investment customers have made in LTO products.