Big Blue to market Tandberg tape drive under IBM brand

Aug 4, 2005: IBM has reached agreement with tape drive, tape automation and disk sub system designer Tandberg Data to market the Tandberg Data designed IBM 200/400GB half high LTO Generation 2 Tape Drive under the IBM brand for use in IBM systems and other compatible systems.

The Tandberg Data LTO 2 tape drive is designed to meet the needs of the SMB (Small to Medium Business) market, which has recently come under the twin pressures of rapidly expanding data capacity requirements and stricter data retention policies.

IBM claims the new drive consumes less power and generates less heat than any other LTO tape drive on the market and that this combination, along with the drive's airflow design, provides greater reliability and increased MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) for overall lower TCO (total cost of ownership). The smaller size of this drive allows it to fit into a standard 5.25 inch half height (1.75 inch) bay, matching the CD/DVD form factor.

IBM anticipates that the adoption of LTO technology will continue to expand within the SMB market segment as users will now have the high-end data storage solution they need at an affordable price point.

Tandberg Data has had a long relationship with IBM, having supplied tape drive products, including the Tandberg SLR and MLR lines, for inclusion in workstation and midrange systems to IBM since 1987.

"The addition of the Tandberg Data LTO Gen 2 Half Height tape drive to IBM’s line of tape products allows IBM the ability to address a much broader market with the high quality and performance that IBM customers expect." said Knut Aulund, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Tandberg Data.

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