Features - Storage Innovations:

StorageTek BROADENS MIDRANGE TAPE AUTOMATION OPTIONS

StorageTek's leadership in tape storage automation has advanced yet again with the latest addition to StorageTek's midrange tape drive portfolio. Now customers have more tape drive options than ever before for use in StorageTek's world-class tape libraries.

StorageTek (Storage Technology Corp.) (NYSE:STK) , the storage services and solutions expert, now offers LTO Ultrium 2 Fibre Channel tape drives for use in its L180, L700 and L5500 tape libraries. StorageTek began shipping IBM LTO-2 FC drives with L-Series libraries in March 2003 and will begin shipping HP LTO-2 FC drives this month.

"Our L-Series tape library customers have long been enabled with the widest variety of tape drive support available in the industry -- from StorageTek's premier T9840 and T9940 tape drives for high-end environments to the latest in LTO midrange technology," said Gary Francis, StorageTek corporate vice president and general manager, Automated Tape Solutions. "With today's announcement, we are ensuring that our tape libraries remain at the forefront of automated tape technology and performance."

"StorageTek's ongoing leadership in the automated tape storage market rests in part in its ability to quickly and seamlessly integrate the latest tape drive technologies such as the LTO Ultrium 2 Fibre drive into its popular tape libraries," said Robert Abraham, president, Freeman Reports. "We forecast LTO libraries to grow steadily. StorageTek's timely support for the newest LTO technology in its midrange offerings will satisfy the advancing requirements in this rapidly growing segment."

LTO Ultrium 2 tape drives with 2 gigabit fabric-aware Fibre Channel interfaces deliver up to 200 MB/sec burst data transfer and up to 35 MB/sec native throughput for accelerated speed and enhanced overall performance. Additionally, with 200GB capacity per cartridge, LTO-2 FC drives offer massive capacity and native fibre connectivity for customers in midrange environments.

LTO-2 tape drives are fully read and write compatible with the first generation of LTO Ultrium tape drives, enabling customers to leverage and protect their investments in earlier LTO technology and simplify migration to this new tape drive.

"The HP LTO Generation 2 Fibre Channel tape drive is the latest product release in HP's LTO tape drive family," said Adam Thew, director of Nearline OEM business, HP Network Storage Solutions. "Fully read and write compatible with all other LTO tape drives, it delivers remarkable speed and capacity. The drive's Fibre Channel interface enables StorageTek libraries to harness a wide range of SAN fabrics and provides more simplified SAN implementation than previous generations."

"Sun continues its commitment to offering customers the latest tape drive technology by including LTO Gen-2 Fibre drives in its libraries," said Kathleen Holmgren, Sun Microsystems senior vice president of Network Storage. "This new technology can extend the power and value of our customers' investments. With the immediate availability of LTO-2 Fibre tape drives for the Sun StorEdge L180 and L700 libraries, our customers can access a wide breadth of tape drive options to meet their unique storage needs."

Pricing & Availability

Priced at $18,500 in StorageTek L180, L700 and L5500 libraries, IBM LTO Ultrium 2 Fibre Channel tape drives are generally available immediately. HP LTO Ultrium 2 Fibre Channel drives will be available later this month for the StorageTek L180 and L700 tape libraries at $17,500.

StorageTek has been shipping HP LTO Ultrium 2 Ultra 3 SCSI tape drives since December 2002 and LTO Ultrium 1 from all LTO consortium manufacturers since September 2001. StorageTek plans to continue this precedent with the Ultrium 2 providing customers with the widest choice of tape drives and truly delivering on the "open" promise of Linear Tape Open.