by Peri Grover

This article marks the first in a two-part series examining the five ways in which storing data on tape can improve your organization’s bottom line. Click here to read the second article in the series.

For many businesses, data storage needs are constantly changing and growing. Loss of data that isn’t properly protected can cripple day-to-day business operations, severely impacting the bottom line. When it comes to cost-effectively storing data offsite long-term and being able to recover a historical version of a file or data set, tape is the medium of choice. Advances in tape drive and cartridge technology have amplified tape’s already strong ability to handle rampant data growth, at a time when IT budgets are under massive pressure. For example, LTO-5 technology ensures lightning-fast speed at which data can be stored and accessed (at 280 MB/s it can actually be faster than disk) and provides massive amounts of storage capacity (3TB per cartridge). Now add the advantages of automated tape libraries, and the advantages of tape-based storage become even more evident.  Technological advances in tape, combined with the increasing recognition that even de-duplicated disk-based products cannot cost-effectively store and quickly retrieve massive amounts of data over the long term, are serving as driving forces behind the market’s renewed focus on tape storage.