IBM 7214 Express: a Rack Mountable Tape and Optical Enclosure

IBM System Storage 7214 Tape and DVD Enclosure Express (Model 1U2) offers rack mountable tape and optical storage enclosure for IBM Power Systems.

It is is designed to attach to specific models of the IBM Power Systems through an external serial attached SCSI (SAS) adapter. The SAS electronic interface offered on the IBM 7214 Model 1U2 is designed to provide faster transfer rates (compared to SCSI transfer rates) and a reduction in space required for system-to-device cabling.

The 7214 Express is intended to provide external tape or optical drive options that allows customers to transfer data with similar archival storage and retrieval technologies already installed in existing IT facilities.

Optional drive technologies available in the 7214 Express offering are:

DAT72 36 GB Tape Drive: Read-write compatible with DDS4 and DDS3 data cartridges
DAT160 80 GB Tape Drive: Read-write compatible with DAT72 and DDS4 data cartridges
Half-high LTO Ultrium 4 800 GB tape drive: Read-write compatible with LTO Ultrium 3 data cartridges, and read-only compatible with Ultrium 2 data cartridges
DVD-RAM – 9.4 GB Slim Optical Drive
DVD-ROM – 9.4 GB Slim Optical Drive

Most standard DVD disks can be used in the 7214 Express DVD drive.

A control card sensor in the 7214 Express can track drive function and notify the user of maintenance requirements.

The 7214 Model 1U2 offers Customer Replaceable Unit (CRU) maintenance service from IBM to help make installation or replacement of new drives efficient. Other 7214 components are also designed for CRU maintenance.

The IBM System Storage 7214 Tape and DVD Enclosure Express has two bays designed to accommodate up to two tape or DVD optical storage drives.

The initial order of the 7214 Express must include at least one of the following drive features:

DAT72 Tape Drive (#1400): The DAT72 feature provides a migration and interchange path on IBM Power servers from other 4 mm technology tape drives and is designed to provide a solution for save, restore, and archiving functions. This tape drive provides physical storage capacity of up to 36 GB (72 GB with 2:1 compression) per data cartridge and is designed to achieve a data rate of up to 6 MB per second with compression. It is designed to provide read/write compatibility with DDS4 and DDS3 formats. The DAT72 tape drive feature includes one data cartridge, one cleaning cartridge, one test cartridge, and an internal SAS cable.
DAT160 Tape Drive (#1401): The DAT160 feature provides a migration and interchange path on IBM Power servers from other 4-mm formatted tape drives and is designed to provide a solution for save, restore, and archiving functions. This tape drive provides physical storage capacity of up to 80 GB (160 GB with 2:1 compression) per data cartridge and is designed to achieve a data rate of up to 13.8 MB/sec with compression. It is designed to provide read/write compatibility with DAT72 and DDS4 media formats. The DAT160 tape drive feature includes one data cartridge, one cleaning cartridge, one test cartridge, and an internal SAS cable.
Half-High LTO Ultrium 4 Tape Drive (#1404): The HHLTO4 feature is a high-performance tape drive with a native capacity of up to 800 GB (1,600 GB with 2:1 compression). This fourth generation of LTO Ultrium tape drives provides a migration and interchange path on IBM Power servers from other LTO formatted tape drives and is designed to provide a solution for save, restore, and archiving functions. The LTO Ultrium 4 drive offers a data rate of up to 240 MB/sec with compression. It is also designed to provide read-write compatibility with Ultrium 3 and read-only compatibility with Ultrium 2 media formats. The HHLTO4 tape drive feature includes one data cartridge, one cleaning cartridge, one test cartridge, and an internal SAS cable.
DVD Sled with One DVD-RAM Drive (#1420): This Drive Sled feature allows the installation of two slim-height DVD optical drives in a single bay of the 7214 Storage Enclosure. Included in this feature is one DVD-RAM optical drive and one DVD-RAM test disk. A second DVD-RAM (#1422) or a DVD-ROM (#1423) drive may be added to the drive slot in the DVD sled by removing the DVD blank panel.
DVD Sled with One DVD-ROM Drive (#1421): This Drive Sled feature allows the installation of two slim-height DVD optical drives in a single bay of the 7214 Storage Enclosure. Included in this feature is one DVD-ROM optical drive and one DVD-ROM test disk. A second DVD-ROM (#1423) or a DVD-RAM (#1422) drive may be added to the drive slot in the DVD sled by removing the DVD blank panel.
DVD-RAM Slim Optical Drive (#1422): The flexibility and compatibility offered in the 7214 DVD-RAM feature makes it an excellent solution for your DVD-RAM read and write requirements. One DVD-RAM test disk is also included. The DVD-RAM Slim Optical Drive can read and write on 4.7 GB and 9.4 GB DVD-RAM media. The DVD-RAM uses only bare media to help reduce media costs and is also read compatible with multisession CD, CD-RW, CD recordable, and 2.6 GB and 5.2 GB DVD-RAM media.
DVD-ROM Slim Optical Drive (#1423): The compatibility offered in the
7214 DVD-ROM feature makes it well-suited for DVD-ROM read
requirements. One DVD-ROM test disk is also included. The DVD-ROM Slim
Optical Drive can read 4.7 GB and 9.4 GB DVD-RAM media. This drive uses
only bare media to help reduce media costs and is also read-compatible
with multisession CD and CD-RW media.

Other DVD-RAM drive characteristics are:

A maximum data rate of up to 2.77 MB per second (DVD-RAM, read)
165 ms average test random access (DVD), 125 ms average access (CD-ROM and CD-RW)
A loading tray that supports 12 cm and 8 cm disks (8 cm, horizontal only)
Support of asynchronous and synchronous data transfer
Multimedia compliance (MPC-3)
CD-DA Digital Audio standard Red Book audio
The ability to read DVD-ROM, as well as to read CD-ROM media in Modes 1 or 2, XA, CDDA, and audio formats
The ability to read multisession disks, CD-recordable disks, and CD-RW disks

Other DVD-ROM drive characteristics are:

A maximum data rate of up to 2.77 MB per second
165 ms average test random access (DVD), 125 ms average access (CD-ROM and CD-RW)
A loading tray that supports 12 cm and 8 cm disks (8 cm, horizontal only)
Support of asynchronous and synchronous data transfer
Multimedia compliance (MPC-3)
CD-DA Digital Audio standard Red Book audio
The ability to read CD-ROM media in Modes 1 or 2, XA, CDDA, and audio formats
The ability to read multisession discs, CD-recordable discs, and CD-RW discs

Disk physical capacity options are 2.6 GB and 4.7 GB per side. The 5.2 GB and 9.4 GB physical capacities may be achieved by using double-sided DVD-RAM and DVD-ROM disks.

Key application areas include access to any information widely distributed via DVD-RAMs, CD-RW, and CD-ROMs, such as licensed software, software updates, as well as user and technical manuals and documentation. Many other multimedia applications are also well suited for capture and distribution on DVD and CD disks.

Availability date: October 7, 2008