The Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Program technology provider companies HP, IBM and Quantum have announced the extension of their product roadmap, providing details for two new generations.
Generations 7 and 8 have been added to the LTO product roadmap, calling for native capacities of 6.4TB and 12.8TB, respectively. Specifications include a larger compression history buffer, which tests show can increase compression to 2.5 to 1. This can allow compressed cartridge capacities of 8TB for Generation 6, 16TB for Generation 7 and 32TB for Generation 8.
Tape drive data transfer rates are anticipated to increase by 50 percent with each new generation, with plans for Generation 6 to provide native transfer rates up to 210MB/s, Generation 7 up to 315MB/s and Generation 8 up to 472MB/s.
The LTO Program recently released specifications and new feature details for Generation 5, which offers a storage capacity of 3TB (assuming 2:1 compressed), which is nearly double the capacity of the previous generation, and transfer rates of up to 280MB/s (assuming 2:1 compressed). LTO Ultrium Generation 5 plans include new partitioning functionality, enabling capabilities that can help enhance file control and space management.
