IBM TS2280 6Gb SAS Tape Drive H8S Incorporates Half-High LTO-8 Technology

IBM TS2280 SAS Tape Drive Model H8S incorporates IBM Half-High LTO Ultrium 8 tape drive technology for increased performance and reliability

IBM TS2280 Tape Drive (machine type 3580 model H8S) is an external, stand-alone or rack mountable unit designed to offer capacity and performance for the midrange systems environment.

It incorporates the IBM LTO-8 half-high SAS tape drive and is designed to support LTO Generation 8 media specification native data rate performance of up to 300MB/s, and up to 750MB/s with 2.5 to 1 compression. It supports the LTO Generation 8 specifications for LTO tape drive technology, and LTO Generation 8 media to a compressed capacity of up to 30TB with 2.5 to 1 compression (up to 12TB native capacity) compared to previous LTO 7 compressed capacity of up to 15TB with 2.5 to 1 compression (up to 6.0TB native capacity) per tape cartridge.

The TS2280 can read and write to Ultrium 8 and Ultrium 7 cartridges. The Ultrium 8 tape drive is encryption-capable and designed to support application-managed encryption.

The TS2280 tape drive uses a 6Gb dual-port SAS interface for connection to a spectrum of system servers, including select IBM Power Systems models, IBM PureFlex systems, and IBM BladeCenters. The TS2280 also supports Microsoft Windows and Unix OSs.

The following IBM TS2280 half-high LTO Ultrium 8 tape drive enhancements are designed to help improve performance, capacity, and reliability:

Native LTO Generation 8 media specification data transfer rate of up to 300MB/s and up to 750MB/s with 2.5 to 1 compression
LTO Generation 8 media specification tape cartridge native capacity support of 12TB and compressed capacity of up to 30TB with 2.5 to 1 compression
6Gb SAS attachment support
1GB internal buffer
Application-managed encryption support for half-high LTO Generation 8 SAS tape drive
16 KB cartridge memory with Ultrium 8 media
Half-high drive form factor
Two SAS ports per drive for improved availability and attachability
IBM LTFS partitioning support

The enclosure width enables two TS2280 storage units to be mounted side by side in a 19-inch IBM server rack mount shelf kit, requiring 2U of rack space.

The TS2280 tape drive provides an migration path from digital linear tape (DLT or SDLT), 1/4 in (QIC), 4mm (DAT), 8mm, or older LTO generation tape drives.

Other media forms like disk have never really replaced tape in most data centers. Instead, tape has continued to be number one for storage archiving, and with the continued improvements in tape technology, tape is taking a prominent role in a data center for both backup and archive. LTO tape is high in capacity and performance, reliable, and still the lowest priced save/restore solution on the market.

Management software options

IBM Spectrum Archive: TS2280 leverages IBM Spectrum Archive for direct, intuitive and graphical access to data stored in IBM tape drives and libraries by incorporating the LTFS format standard. LTFS compatibility enables tape-stored data to be accessed as if it were on disk or flash storage. IBM Spectrum Archive enables users of LTO Ultrium 8 tape library systems to inventory cartridges and read, write, and search data on any cartridge, enabling writing of metadata and tagging of individual files for easy and fast access to files stored on cartridges.
IBM Spectrum Protect: Spectrum Protect enables users to create, manage, and optimize archives, and provides management of concurrent copies of content, plus active, inactive, and off-site content.

Key prerequisites
Appropriate levels of host software are required to attach the IBM TS2280 tape drive to select IBM Power Systems, Unix, and PC servers.

Planned availability date: November 17, 2017