IBM to launch new range of tape products

IBM is set to introduce a new range of mainframe tape-library products that will allow encryption and replication.

The company announced:

• The IBM Virtual Engine TS7740, a mainframe-based virtual-tape system capable of replicating data between three sites for disaster recovery purposes.
• The System Storage TS1120 Tape Controller, which attaches the TS3400 tape library to IBM mainframes and offers tape drive-based encryption features.
• The System Storage TS2230 Tape Drive Express Model H3S LTO 3 Half Height, an LTO-3 tape drive for midsize customers.
• Two midrange storage systems, the System Storage DS300 DC and DS3400 DC, which are DC rather than AC-powered and are intended for use by telecom providers and companies in the oil and gas industries.

The TS7740 lets mainframe customers automatically duplicate tape data across three datacentre sites for availability in outages or disasters. The TS7740 also provides improved tape processing and a one-terabyte single-cache configuration for smaller businesses.

The enhanced TS1120 Tape Controller lets a TS3400 tape library be attached to IBM mainframe platforms and offers tape drive-based encryption capabilities for smaller IBM mainframe environments, remote offices and workgroups. The TS3400 is a small form-factor two-drive library that can hold up to 18 cartridges.

Further, IBM is introducing the System Storage TS2230 Tape Drive Express Model H3S LTO 3 Half Height, an LTO 3 tape drive that incorporates IBM Ultrium 3 Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and a three Gbit/s SAS interface.

The System Storage DS3000 DC and DS3400 DC include hardened infrastructures for the industries they address or the datacentres where they are situated. These new disk systems have built-in support for DC Power and are NEBS (Network Equipment Building System) Level 3 compliant.

All tape-based systems are expected to be available on 31 August. The DC-powered storage systems are expected to be available 20 July.