|
|
Current News from the Tape Council |
| Tape Council Presents Factors that Reveal Tape as Most Cost-Effective Data Storage Solution |
|
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 1, 2004 - Tape Technology Council, a non-profit trade association comprised of leading data-storage technology manufacturers, today announced its findings on the factors that contribute to the total cost of ownership (TCO) of data storage solutions. Presented by Tape Council president Rich Harada at Storage Networking World, the findings suggest that IT managers may overlook important criteria when making purchasing decisions for their data protection systems.
"Many storage-system purchasers focus their attention on up-front costs such as hardware and media costs, installation, controllers, and application software to arrive at a comparative cost-per-gigabyte," said Harada. "Although this cost is a good starting point for any system comparison, it's certainly not the full picture. By examining other factors that can play a role in the long term, the true advantages of one system over another become clear."
According to Harada, some of the commonly overlooked costs include:
Power and coolingFloor spaceSecurityScalabilityReliabilityPersonnel training
The Tape Council study sought to compare TCO for three of the most popular data storage choices: tape, optical disc and magnetic disk technologies. Ultimately, the research showed the tape solution to have the lowest initial cost as well as the best overall value of the three solutions -- coming in at approximately one-fourth the total cost of Mirrored RAID. The study revealed the following total costs over a three-year period:
Tape Library $102,394Optical Disc Jukebox $150,688Mirrored RAID $416,085
The study looked at costs for hardware, software/controllers, media, hardware/software maintenance, floor space and power consumption. The Tape Council solicited bids from independent integrators and utilized the three lowest bids for each system type. Storage parameters were identical for each and included a WORM storage application with a capacity requirement of 10 TB of archived data; daily incremental storage of 10 GB; and a storage time frame of three years.
Harada concluded that long-term operational costs need to be included as part of the purchase decision as well as system costs, growth requirements and timeframe for operation. "Don't be fooled by so-called 'data throughput' comparisons such as small file transfers vs. restore of large data sets," he added. "Bear in mind also that magnetic disk may be right for certain applications even at a higher cost but even so, it isn't a complete data protection solution. It still should be backed up with tape."
Now in its third year, the Tape Technology Council has emerged as the primary industry resource for promoting, integrating and using tape-based storage devices and media. A non-profit organization, the Tape Council's membership is comprised of leading tape vendors including Fujifilm, IBM, Imation, Maxell, Quantum, Sony, StorageTek and TDK.
For more information or a copy of the TCO study, please contact Tom Kivett at (212) 727-2935 or tkivett@creativebusinc.com.
About Tape Technology Council
The Tape Technology Council is the primary industry resource for promoting, integrating and using tape storage devices including AIT, ADR, DDS/DAT, DLTtape, LTO, MLR, QIC, S-AIT, SLR, Travan, VXA, 3590, 3592, 9490, 9840, 9940 and other legacy tape formats. The Tape Technology Council acts as a conduit for information exchange between manufacturers and the industry. Additional information is also available by contacting Rich Harada, president, at 201-722-9890 or by visiting www.tapecouncil.org.
Charter Members
Fujifilm: www.fujifilmmediasource.com or 800-800-FUJI
IBM: www.storage.ibm.com
Imation: www.imation.com or 888-466-3456
Maxell: www.maxell-data.com or 800-533-2836
Quantum: www.quantum.com or 408-944-4000
Sony Electronics: www.mediabysony.com or 800-352-7669
StorageTek: www.storagetek.com or 800-786-7835
TDK: www.tdk.com/recmedia/
CONTACTS:
Membership Contact:
Rich Harada
201/722-9890
Rharada@tapecouncil.org
Press Contact:
Tom Kivett
Creative Links Communications
212/727-2935
tkivett@creativebusinc.com
|
|
