IBM RESEARCH SETS NEW RECORD IN BACK-UP MEDIA TAPES

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Date: Monday January 25, 2010 10:33:05 am
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    IBM RESEARCH SETS
    NEW RECORD IN BACK-UP MEDIA TAPES

    Made in IBM
    Labs: IBM Research sets new record in magnetic tape data density
    Important
    milestone in storing, protecting and accessing increasing volumes of
    data for a smarter planetZurich, Switzerland, 22 January 2010—IBM
    researchers today announced they have demonstrated a world record in
    areal data density on linear magnetic tape — a significant update to one
    of the computer industry’s most resilient, reliable and affordable data
    storage technologies.

    IBM demonstrates new record in magnetic
    tape

    data density.This breakthrough proves that tape technology
    can increase capacity for years to come, which has important
    implications, as tape storage systems are more energy efficient and
    cost-effective than hard disk drive storage systems. Businesses and
    governments use magnetic tape to store, protect and access large volumes
    of important data, including: data and video archives, back-up files,
    replicas for disaster recovery, and retention of information required
    for regulatory compliance.

    The scientists at IBM Research –
    Zurich, in cooperation with the FUJIFILM Corporation of Japan, recorded
    data onto an advanced prototype tape, at a density of 29.5 billion bits
    per square inch — about 39 times the areal data density of today’s most
    popular industry-standard magnetic tape product*. To achieve this feat,
    IBM Research has developed several new critical technologies, and for
    the past three years worked closely with FUJIFILM to optimize its
    next-generation dual-coat magnetic tape based on barium ferrite (BaFe)
    particles.”This exciting achievement shows that tape storage is alive
    and strong and will continue to provide users reliable data protection,
    while maintaining a cost advantage over other storage technologies,
    including hard disk drives and flash,” said Cindy Grossman, vice
    president, IBM Tape and Archive Storage Systems.

    These new
    technologies are estimated to enable cartridge capacities that could
    hold up to 35 trillion bytes (terabytes) of uncompressed data**. This is
    about 44 times*** the capacity of today’s IBM LTO Generation 4
    cartridge. A capacity of 35 terabytes of data is sufficient to store the
    text of 35 million books, which would require 248 miles (399 km) of
    bookshelves.”This tape storage density demonstration represents a step
    towards developing technologies to achieve tape areal recording
    densities of 100 billion bits per square inch and beyond. Such
    technologies will be necessary to keep up with the rapid increase in
    digital information. IBM is in the unique position to help clients
    store, maintain and analyze the wealth of data accumulating, and thus
    help them achieve efficiencies and advantages in the way they do
    business,” comments Evangelos Eleftheriou, IBM Fellow.

    Critical
    business data is often contained in automated tape libraries, where one
    or more tape drives service dozens to thousands of tape cartridges.
    High-end tape libraries can store petabytes — millions of gigabytes — of
    information. On a per-gigabyte basis, tape systems currently cost about
    one-fifth to one-tenth of a hard disk drive (HDD) storage systems,
    depending on the size. Also, tape is by far one of the most
    energy-efficient storage technology available today because tape
    cartridges only consume energy when being accessed unlike disks, which
    spin continuously.

    For the past several years, scientists from
    IBM Research – Zurich have dramatically improved the precision of
    controlling the position of the read-write heads, leading to a more than
    25-fold increase in the number of tracks that can be squeezed onto the
    half-inch-wide tape. In addition, they have developed new advanced
    detection methods to improve the accuracy of reading the tiny magnetic
    bits, thereby achieving an increase in the linear recording density of
    more than 50 percent. Another key enabling technology for achieving the
    required track-follow performance in this demonstration was a new,
    low-friction read-write head developed by IBM Research – Almaden, which
    has also been collaborating with FUJIFILM to develop next-generation
    media.

    IBM has a long history of innovation in magnetic-tape data
    storage. Its first commercial tape product, the 726 Magnetic Tape Unit,
    was announced nearly 60 years ago. It used reels of half-inch-wide tape
    that each had a capacity of about 2 megabytes. The areal density
    demonstration announced today represents a potential increase in
    capacity of 17,500,000 times compared with IBM’s first tape drive
    product. This announcement reaffirms IBM’s continued commitment and
    leadership in magnetic tape technology.

    As the planet becomes
    more intelligent, integrated and interconnected, there will be an
    explosive growth in the rate at which data is created. The majority of
    this data, such as transportation traffic patterns, the food supply
    chain, image rich media, and health and financial industries, will be
    stored on tape.Technical details: IBM’s world-record achievement
    leverages notable improvements in four areas of the magnetic tape system

      
    1. New high-density, dual-coated particulate magnetic tape: Developed
    by FUJIFILM Corporation in Japan in close collaboration with IBM
    Research scientists, this next-generation version of its NANOCUBIC(TM)
    tape uses a new ultra-fine, perpendicularly-oriented barium-ferrite
    magnetic medium that enables high-density data recording without using
    expensive metal sputtering or evaporation coating methods.

       2.
    Advanced servo control technologies for ultra accurate head positioning:
    Three new servo control technologies have been developed by IBM
    Research – Zurich, leading to a more than 25-fold increase in the number
    of data tracks that can be squeezed onto the half-inch-wide tape:
             
    * a new servo pattern, enabling the generation of high-bandwidth
    nanometer-scale position information;
              * a new method for
    detecting and decoding the position information encoded in the servo
    pattern, and
              * advanced state-space-based control concepts
    that, combined with the other two technologies, culminated in the
    demonstration of an extremely precise track-follow performance of less
    than 24 nm standard deviation from the target track position.

      
    3. These technologies were instrumental in reducing the track width to
    less than 0.45 micrometers.

       4. Innovative signal-processing
    algorithms for the data channel: An advanced data read channel based on a
    new data-dependent noise-predictive, maximum-likelihood (DD-NPML)
    detection scheme was developed at IBM Research – Zurich to enable the
    accurate detection of the data despite the reduction in the
    signal-to-noise ratio resulting from the use of an ultra-narrow 0.2-µm
    data reader head. With this technique, which also takes the noise
    characteristics of FUJIFILM’s BaFe medium into account, a linear density
    increase of more than 50 percent relative to LTO Generation 4 was
    achieved.

       5. Low-friction GMR (giant magnetoresistive)
    read/write head assemblies: Two new head technologies have been
    developed by the tape development and research teams at IBM Research –
    Almaden, namely, a new reduced-friction head assembly that allows the
    use of smoother magnetic tapes and an advanced GMR head module
    incorporating optimized servo readers. These head technologies were
    critical for achieving the required track-follow performance mentioned
    above.

    *The demonstration was performed at product-level tape
    speeds (2 meters per second) and achieved error rates that are
    correctable using standard error-correction techniques to meet IBM’s
    performance specification for its LTO Generation 4 products.
    **Note
    that this calculation assumes a roughly 12% increase in tape length due
    to the reduced medium thickness.
    Note that this has been rounded up
    from 43.75 times.
    http://www.zurich.ibm.com/news/10/storage.html

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