Spectra Logic Extends Storage Scalability Leadership with New IBM TS1170 Drives

BOULDER, Colo. Aug. 30, 2023 — Spectra Logic, a global leader in data management and data storage solutions, today announced support for the IBM TS1170 tape drive in its enterprise-class libraries. The incorporation of this latest generation of IBM tape drive and its corresponding media brings unprecedented new levels of storage density and capacity to Spectra Logic TFinity ExaScale, T950 and T950v libraries.

When fully populated with IBM TS1170 tape drives and JF media, a Spectra TFinity ExaScale library will store and enable access to a groundbreaking 2.15 exabytes of uncompressed data, making it the world’s largest tape storage system. Using a 3:1 compression ratio, the total stored data capacity of a single system can be up to an astonishing 6.45 exabytes.

Spectra libraries also uniquely support the intermixing of IBM TS series, Oracle T10000 family, and LTO tape drives, providing the flexible configurability needed to ensure smooth data migrations, support capacity and technology upgrades, and deliver superior investment protection for many years to come.

Benefiting government, scientific research, high performance computing, media and entertainment, and public cloud environments, the TS1170 tape drive leverages new ultra-high capacity JF media, engineered with Strontium Ferrite (SrFe) particle technology, enabling a native storage capacity of 50TB per cartridge, more than double the previous version and twice as great as the highest capacity disk drive offerings in the market.

The massive, ongoing proliferation of data has enterprises seeking new strategies and solutions for managing and safeguarding it. By leveraging industry-leading technologies such as the IBM TS1170 tape drive, Spectra libraries can deliver nearly unlimited capacity, easy access to data on demand and provide long-term retention of data while being more budget-friendly than traditional disk or flash alternatives.

“We’re pleased to include the TS1170 as an exciting new option for Spectra Logic enterprise-class tape libraries. Fast, secure, cost-effective and scalable, the TS1170 is more innovative than its predecessor and helps empower our user base spanning thousands of tape libraries,” said Nathan Thompson, Spectra Logic chief executive officer. “This drive, and the new media technology underpinning it, points to a bright road ahead for continued tape innovation, including future LTO tape advances. It also highlights the potential this technology still holds for the enterprise.”

With today’s news, Spectra redoubles its commitment to constantly modernize and offer state-of-the-art tape technology. Spectra introduced its first tape library in 1995 and has built the most technologically advanced, reliable tape systems in the industry.

About Spectra Logic

Dedicated solely to data storage innovation for more than 40 years, Spectra Logic helps organizations modernize their IT infrastructures and protect and preserve their data with a broad portfolio of solutions that enable them to manage, migrate, store and preserve business data long-term, along with features to make them ransomware resilient, whether on-premises, in a single cloud, across multiple clouds, or in all locations at once. To learn more, visit www.spectralogic.com.

Source: Spectra Logic