Sony's Super AIT
Sony's Super AIT
Sony has launched a Super Advanced Intelligent Tape (S-AIT) that stores over one terabyte per cartridge, for storage hungry enterprises.
The S-AIT-1 drive stores up to 1.3 terabyte of compressed data or 500 gigabytes uncompressed on a single half-inch (1.25cm) tape cartridge. It also features a sustained transfer rate of up to 78 megabytes per second.
According to Sony, the S-AIT platform, like the AIT platform, is based on advanced helical-scan recording technology known for its high data density. S-AIT also uses Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) tape technology in combination with helical scanning to increase density and capacity.
However, the two product lines, AIT and S-AIT are not backwards compatible with each other because they use different sized cartridges. The S-AIT drive uses Sony’s AIT architecture but in an extended 5.25-inch (13cm) extended drive footprint. Sony is aiming to use SAIT-4 technology to double capacity and performance from generation to generation. It expects to deliver up to 4 terabytes of uncompressed capacity in a single cartridge.
Rhys Fagan, product manager magnetic storage at Sony Australia said, "we made [S-AIT] wider and larger to increase capacity."
Mr Fagan added AIT and S-AIT cater for two different marketplaces. AIT is for the entry level back up or the low end enterprise, while S-AIT is enterprise class back up.
Sony claims S-AIT technology is ideal for the larger enterprise with intensive storage needs, such as media content, medical imaging, video production, broadcast and document imaging. S-AIT technology provides the near-line speed and reliability to enable high performance database and mission critical application backup, Sony say.
The S-AIT drive and cartridge will begin shipping qualification units to OEM partners this month, to ensure compatibility with their robotics. S-AIT is slated to ship for sale locally in March or April 2003.
Approximately 3,800 AIT units, including libraries, were sold in Australia in calendar year 2002, according to Mr Fagan. The estimated install base is approximately 9,000 drives single and libraries.
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