History 2002: New Roadmap for Quantum DLT

According to George Kreigler, SVP and GM of Quantum’s DLTtape drive division, the integration of Benchmark Storage Innovations, acquired for roughly $56 million, is completed.

The 2 teams now work hand in hand at 2 sites in Boulder, CO. Both companies had already agreed on a common roadmap for their tape drives, since even before the merger Quantum already held 20% of Benchmark.

The new roadmap just announced keeps the same general principles: Benchmark technology for the low end, now called ValueDLT, and SuperDLT at the high end.

One change, however, is the arrival of Benchmark’s new VS160 drive, based on a new, more modernized non-Quantum DLT-type cartridge.

Apparently, the new cartridge impressed Quantum so much it has decided to base all future generations of ValueDLT on it, and to cancel plans for its own low-cost DLT Samurai drive.

As of now, the roadmap includes the following:

For the ValueDLT line, after discontinuing DLT4000, DLT8000 (40/6) will be halted next year. Benchmark’s full-height DLT1 (40/3) has also been discontinued, while the half-height VS80 (40/3) will continue until the reannouncement of the half-height VS160 (80/8), expected next February. Next, the VS320, with 2x the capacity, will appear in mid-2004, followed by the VS600. These units will continue to be produced by Japanese subcontractor Mitsumi, while the cartridges are only made by Sony “for the moment.”
For the SuperDLT line, there is no change. SDLT320 (160/16) is gradually replacing SDLT220 (110/11) and will be followed next summer by the SDLT600 at nearly 300GB, with transfer rates in the range of 34-35MB/s. The latter will be able to read, and read only, VS cartridges (without the addition of a second magnetic head as on the 220/320 models) in order to allow users to upgrade from VS to SOLT. It will also integrate a flash chip, called MAM, on the cartridge. Coming later are SDLT1200 and 2400. Since December 9, the SOLT units are manufactured by Jabil, a subcontractor in Penang, Malaysia.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 179 on December 2002 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.