Fujifilm Campaign to Demonstrate Value of Tape in Reducing Total Facility Costs

Fujifilm Recording Media U.S.A., Inc. has introduced a campaign to help inform data center managers of the energy savings made possible by maximizing the use of data tape storage. The campaign includes online and print advertising and offers technical documentation and resources for data center operators.

"Magnetic tape is one of those technologies that continues to reinvent itself generation to generation, providing energy and capacity benefits that many IT managers are now finding critical in future IT planning," noted David Reine, Director, Enterprise Systems, The Clipper Group. "With the price of energy and cooling increasing incrementally, the overall costs for managing disk-only strategies can become prohibitive for enterprises engaged in long-term storage."

In a Clipper Notes report, Reine adds that integrating an LTO-4 tape system can significantly reduce the cost of ownership and energy consumption within a data center. According to the report, continuing advances in data density and cartridge capacity help keep magnetic tape the most cost-effective form of data storage. Tape offers the lowest cost per/GB and is remarkably energy efficient, significantly reducing operational and investment costs. The Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) capability of tape makes it unalterable, while encryption is available through data management software and available at the drive level with the LTO Ultrium Gen 4 format.

"Advances in data tape technology are enabling greater and greater amounts of data to be stored in the same physical footprint while improving cost per gigabyte, performance, reliability and security," noted Rich Gadomski, Vice President of Marketing, Fujifilm Recording Media U.S.A., Inc. "We’re working closely with our customers and partners to identify technical advances and to provide information and resources about products and solutions that will improve data center efficiency."

In addition to being a leading global tape technology developer and manufacturer, Fujifilm continues to provide a broad portfolio for data managers to help maintain the integrity, reliability and security of their tape-based assets. Most recently Fujifilm introduced the Fujifilm DC Analyser, a desktop tool that provides key information on the age, use and condition of an LTO Ultrium cartridge; and the Fujifilm Tape Tracker, a GPS-based tracking unit for monitoring the location and status of data tapes in transit from one location to another.