LTO-5 Specifications for Licensing

The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Program technology provider companies, HP, IBM Corporation and Quantum Corp., announced details for the licensing by storage mechanism and media manufacturers of the LTO Ultrium format generation 5 specifications.

The specifications support tape cartridge storage capacity of 3TB assuming a 2:1 compression, a near doubling of capacity over the previous generation, and tape drive data transfer rates of up to 280MB per second assuming a 2:1 compression. The LTO Ultrium format generation 5 will also include new partitioning functionality, enabling capabilities that can enhance file control and space management, addressing the growing needs of marketplace segments such as Rich Media. More information on this technology will be forthcoming later this year.

“LTO products have been a core part of storage solutions for over a decade and embraced by organizations to address their backup, archive, compliance and data security needs, so there is great anticipation in the marketplace for the release of the new generation 5 standard,” said Rob Clark, VP Business Operations at Quantum. “The generation 5 specifications are designed to reflect the current and future needs of data managers worldwide while adding new features, such as partitioning, to enable additional control and efficiencies via space management.”

LTO Generation 5 also continues to enable LTO tape drive hardware-based writing of encrypted data to the LTO Ultrium tape cartridge, helping protect the storage and transport of sensitive information, along with offering WORM (Write-Once, Read-Many) functionality.

The LTO Ultrium format generation 5 drives are designed with backwards-compatible read-and-write capability with the Ultrium format generation 4 cartridges, and backward read capabilities with generation 3 cartridges, helping to protect investments and ease implementation.

A strategic blend of disk and tape technologies can help organizations address retention requirements while reducing total cost of ownership. Compared to other storage technologies, tape can have lower acquisition and operational cost and use less power. It’s also a core component of successful data storage practices that utilize multiple technology solutions to avoid potential data errors. Storing a copy of data off-line on tape can help avoid intentional or unintentional on-line corruption.

In response to extensive end user research, along with licensee and industry analyst input, the LTO Program has incrementally increased the data rate specification for generation 5, and plan to provide roadmap updates to LTO Ultrium generation 6 and beyond to give users improved tape performance attributes.

How to License LTO Ultrium Technology
The LTO Program has historically offered several different license packages – from enhanced packages that provide the specifications and licenses to manufacture LTO Ultrium products, to basic packages providing LTO format specifications.

Buyers seeking LTO Ultrium format-compliant products should look for the LTO Ultrium format compliance verification trademarks on both tape drives and data cartridges.