
IBM has launched a brand new high-density archival storage system, the IBM Diamondback Tape Library. Unveiled on the 2022 Open Compute Undertaking International Summit, the brand new storage answer is bodily air-gapped, that means knowledge is saved as an remoted backup copy with no bodily community connection.
IBM says Diamondback supplies a considerably smaller carbon footprint in comparison with flash or disk storage and is right for hyperscale enterprises needing to retailer tons of of petabytes of information. The corporate notes this archival storage helps vertical markets that generate giant quantities of unstructured and generally delicate knowledge reminiscent of massive knowledge analytics, cloud storage companies, IoT, healthcare, and life sciences.
“Pushed by an explosion in knowledge quantity, ransomware, and elevated regulatory and sustainability necessities, hyperscale cloud suppliers are among the many largest customers of tape storage and are predicted to drive tape capability shipments to new ranges in 2023,” mentioned Phil Goodwin, analysis vp, IDC. “IBM’s Diamondback Tape Library is the corporate’s newest answer for each conventional and cloud hyperscale enterprises. It’s designed to ship on prospects’ wants for scalability, sustainability and safety with simplicity and self-service.”
Diamondback was designed for 3 major advantages in line with its maker, the primary of which is sustainability. Lowered energy and cooling necessities imply a decrease carbon footprint over spinning disk storage. Diamondback customers can retailer as much as 69.5PB of compressed knowledge in a single eight-square-foot library with as much as 1,548 LTO-9 cartridges. Tape storage might also be a extra long-term product as a result of it permits knowledge storage for as much as 30 years, in line with a report sponsored by Fujifilm.
Enhanced safety can be a bonus of tape storage as its air-gapped isolation is proof against community cybersecurity threats like ransomware. IBM moreover cites decrease storage prices as one other major good thing about tape, approximating its value as one-quarter of the whole value of spinning disk and public cloud archival companies.

Patricia Barbeau operates an IBM 729 at Camp Smith in Hawaii (1969). Supply: U.S. Nationwide Archives
“With knowledge breaches and ransomware assaults now a continuing risk, we’re seeing hyperscale enterprises more and more turning to the information resilience supplied by IBM Tape options,” mentioned Scott Baker, VP and CMO of IBM Storage. “The IBM Diamondback Tape Library supplies vital safety towards a wide range of threats, serving to decrease knowledge middle flooring house necessities and organizations’ carbon footprint. It’s a part of the end-to-end knowledge safety and safety answer that IBM can ship.”
Different notable options of Diamondback embody its quick deployment, as IBM says customers can deploy over 27PB of storage in lower than half-hour from time on flooring to energy up. The corporate notes the answer additionally supplies elevated learn and write efficiency with 15% increased drive density in comparison with the older IBM TS4500 L55 tape library.
Diamondback builds upon IBM’s tape storage legacy. One of many firm’s oldest tape storage options, the IBM 729 Magnetic Tape Unit, was launched in 1959. The unit used 0.5-inch magnetic tape as much as 2400 toes lengthy wound on reels with a ten.5-inch diameter.
Associated Objects:
IBM Proclaims Addition of Purple Hat Storage to IBM Choices
Harvard’s New Knowledge Storage Is to Dye For, Avoids DNA Storage Pitfalls
IBM Storage Breakthrough Paves Manner for 330TB Tape Cartridges