Imation Ready for LTO-5 Cartridges (1.6TB, 180MB/s Native) in Early 2010

Demonstrating its continuing global leadership in removable data
storage, Imation Corp. announced an industry first: the
generation of multi-terabyte native-capacity tape using advanced metal
particulate (MP) media and employing the company’s proprietary
TeraAngstrom technology. Further underscoring its commitment to metal
particulate technology and the LTO, or Linear Tape Open format, Imation
is also the first and only company to date to license the
next-generation of Ultrium LTO-5 tape media.

“Imation is excited to announce this important industry milestone – the
achievement of multiple terabytes of native capacity on a single MP
tape cartridge,” said Subodh Kulkarni, vice president of Imation’s
Research, Development, and Engineering, and head of the company’s
global Commercial Business. “Metal particulate media is a proven
standard in data storage, and with MP-based LTO-5, we will be almost
doubling the capacity of the cartridges. Further, LTO-5 tape technology
offers a cost-efficient way for businesses to store ever-expanding
data, whether for long-term archival or regular backup of active data,
given tape’s energy savings and a cost per gigabyte advantages over
other methods. Imation is leveraging its long-standing heritage in
reliable, secure and durable data storage products and expertise in
metal particulate media to ensure that this latest generation of LTO
media exceeds standards for data protection and delivers the most data
in a single, multi-terabyte data cartridge. We are very pleased to be
the first manufacturer licensed for LTO-5.”

Featuring 3.2 TB of compressed storage and data transfer rates of up to
360MB/second, LTO-5 tape cartridges offer significant improvements over
prior tape generations. Enhancements in servo technology and improved
data compression ensure the same length of tape can store more
information, allowing data center managers to keep their existing
footprints without adding space to accommodate the growth in primary
storage. A leading manufacturer of LTO generations 1, 2, 3 and 4,
Imation uses its state-of-the-art TeraAngstrom technology to create
magnetic media with a significantly smoother surface and a high
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), delivering reduced errors and faster
transfer rates. Imation’s TeraAngstrom technology is the advanced MP
formulation and manufacturing process used to produce ultra-high
capacity storage media at Imation’s Oakdale, Minn. R&D facility,
and in its Weatherford, Okla. manufacturing facility, the only facility
in the world built specifically for terabyte-class tape coating.

Licensed by the LTO Technology Provider Companies (TPCs) of Hewlett
Packard, IBM and Quantum, Imation expects to launch LTO-5 tape
cartridges in early 2010, offering significantly faster performance,
almost double the capacity of existing LTO-4 cartridges, and improved
encryption capabilities for effective backup, restore and archival of
critical data.