IBM System Storage TS2360 Model S63 Device With FH LTO-6 Drive

The IBM System Storage TS2360 Tape Drive Model S63 (machine type 3580) external stand-alone or rack-mountable unit is designed to offer high capacity and performance for the entry and midrange systems environment.

It incorporates the IBM LTO-6 full-high SAS tape driveand is designed to support the LTO-6 media specification native data rate performance with up to 160MB/s compared to the IBM TS2350 LTO full-high LTO-5 drive at up to 140MB/s native data transfer rate.

The TS2360 supports the LTO-6 specifications for LTO tape drive technology and LTO-6 media to a compressed capacity of up to 6.25TB with 2.5 to 1 compression (2.5TB native capacity) compared to previous LTO-5 compressed capacity of up to 3.0TB with 2:1 compression (up to 1.5TB native capacity) per tape cartridge.

The TS2360 can read and write to LTO-6 and LTO-5 cartridges, and is read compatible with LTO-4 data cartridges. The LTO-6 tape drive is encryption capable and designed to support application managed encryption.

The TS2360 Model S63 tape drive uses a 6Gb dual port SAS interface for connection to a spectrum of system servers. It attaches to System x and PC servers, and selected Power Systems models. It also supports Windows, HP-UX, Oracle Solaris, and Unix.

The following IBM TS2360 S63 full-high LTO-6 tape drive enhancements are designed to help improve performance, capacity, and reliability:

• Native LTO-6 media specification data transfer rate of up to 160MB/s
• Support for LTO-6 media specification tape cartridge compressed capacity of up to 6.25TB with 2.5 to 1 compression
• 6Gb SAS attachment support
• 1GB internal buffer
• Application managed encryption support for full-high LTO-6 SAS tape drive
• 16KB cartridge memory with LTO-6 media
• Full-high drive form factor
• Two SAS ports per drive to improve availability and attachability
• IBM LTFS partitioning support

The enclosure width allows two TS2360 storage units to be mounted side by side in a 19-inch IBM server rack mount shelf kit, requiring four EIA units (4U) of rack space.

The TS2360 tape drive provides a migration path from digital linear tape (DLT or SDLT), 1/4-inch (QIC), 4mm (DAT), 8mm, or older LTO generation tape drives.

IBM LTFS SDE software is included with each TS2360 and leverages LTO6 tape drive partitioning. It is designed to enable a self-describing tape file format and to deliver an easy tape storage and distribution solution without the use of additional database applications. Customers of LTFS software are those who require a standard tape cartridge format at a low cost and will use standalone IBM LTO6 tape drives. LTFS is well-suited for those in the media and entertainment industry, and other fields that need massive storage on tape for long retention periods, such as banking, scientific research, and government sectors. For further information and list of supported OSs, refer to the following website

Key prerequisites
Appropriate levels of host software are required to attach the IBM System Storage TS2360 tape drive to selected Power Systems, System x, HP-UX, Sun, UNnix, and PC servers.