Two Thirds of Disk-Only Users Look to Add Tape into Storage Infrastructure

HP, IBM Corporation and Quantum Corporation, the three technology
provider companies for the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Program released
survey results that strongly suggest that storage customers that use a
disk-only infrastructure are now looking at tape storage technology as
part of a tiered storage infrastructure to support backup and archiving.
Over two thirds of surveyed businesses said they were looking to add
tape storage back into their overall network infrastructure and of those
respondents, over 80-percent plan to add tape storage solutions within
the next 12 months.

The survey, which was taken in the fourth quarter of 2007, focused on
the views of more than 200 network administrators and mid-level tech
specialists at mid-size to large companies throughout the United States.

“The integration of tape storage into a tiered
information infrastructure is highly strategic for customers, due to its
low cost of ownership, low energy consumption and portability for data
protection,” said Cindy Grossman, Vice
President of Tape Storage Systems, IBM. “LTO
tape technology is a perfect choice for enterprise and mid-sized
customer with its proven reliability, high capacity, high performance
and ability to address data security with built-in encryption and data
retention requirements for the evolving data center.”

According to the survey, 58-percent of the respondents use a combination
of disk and tape for long term archiving, 24-percent use tape
exclusively, and 18-percent employ a disk-only approach. In this group,
68-percent of the current disk-only users plan to start using tape for
long-term archiving, and over half (58-percent) plan to add tape for
short-term data protection.

“The survey findings suggest that disk-only
users may be experiencing a bit of buyer’s
remorse,” said David Geddes, senior vice
president at Fleishman-Hillard Research, who oversaw the study. “We
found that a wide majority of companies that employ purely disk-based
approaches are looking to quickly include tape in their backup and
archiving strategies.”

LTO Program