History 2001: IBM Adopts Half-Height LTO HP Model

IBM now offers a half-height version of the 5.25-inch LTO drive, supplied by LTO partner Hewlett-Packard for the xSeries and Netfinity computer lines.

The new unit (part no. 24P2396) is 1.63″ or 41mm in height, still with 100GB capacity per cartridge, but with native transfer rate of 8MB/s (compared to 7.5MB/s on HP’s original model).

While IBM’s full height version is priced at $9,251 (in fact, the distributor’s price is $4,100 for an internal version, $4,700 for the external), the half-height has a list price of $3,799, supports Ultra2 or Ultra 160 SCSI controllers and should be available beginning February 16.

Finally, we see an interesting entry price for the LTO line, which will give Exabyte’s Mammoth 2, Quantum’s DLT4000 and 8000 as well as Benchmark’s DLT1 a run for their money.

On the software side, the new drive is supported by the latest versions of CA’s ARCserve and Veritas’ Backup Exec.

Big Blue, which has no low-end LTO drive, is relying on its LTO rival to offer a cheaper solution and more effectively promote the Ultrium format.

Meanwhile at HP, the Ultrium 215 is a bit more costly, $3,900 in its Netserver LP 1000r/2000r version, and will be available later, around March 1. According to two different sources inside IBM, one in the US, the other in Europe, the company sold between 20,000 and 21,000 LTO drives during the last quarter of 2000, which, if officially confirmed, is a fairly remarkable figure for a tape drive that has only just arrived on the market and is based on brand new technology.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 157 on February 2001 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.