Here's some good news
November 17, 1997, Issue: 764
Section: Hardware
Quantum:Leads new pack of DLT vendors -- Digital Linear Tape Plays Well In Channel
By Joseph F. Kovar
Irvine, Calif. -- VARs and systems integrators that sell and install digital linear tape (DLT) products can look forward to strong growth.
"We're very bullish in terms of the outlook for DLT," said Bob Abraham, vice president of Freeman Associates, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based research firm. "DLT is the technology of choice for automation. Unless Quantum [Corp.] falls on its swords, it will do very well."
Quantum is doing very well indeed, said Mary Schoonmaker, director of marketing for the Milpitas, Calif.-based company's DLT division. Quantum is the sole provider of DLT drives, and owns the DLT cartridge technology, as well.
Quantum does not disclose DLT drive sales figures. However, the company is growing about 25 percent each quarter, and expects similar growth next year, Schoonmaker said.
Abraham estimates Quantum will sell 300,000 to 400,000 drives this year, compared to only 72,000 drives in 1995, before Quantum purchased the technology from Digital Equipment Corp.
For VARs and resellers, this means almost a sure guarantee of sales, Abraham said. "It's a captive media situation. And media margins are much higher than for drives," he said.
Abraham estimates there is an installed base of 600,000 to 800,000 drives, meaning a market for about 6 million cartridges yearly.
VARs and integrators will find most new product announcements are for low-cost automated products, especially single-drive autoloaders, Abraham said. "Manufacturers are not ignoring the high-end, but they sense some sweet spots they missed before," he said.
Already this fall, several new DLT products have been announced and should be available to resellers soon.
Hewlett-Packard Co., based in Palo Alto, Calif., released its first autoloader, the SureStore 418. Resellers that sell HP servers also will sell the SureStore, said Dave Caputo, future product marketing manager of HP's storage products division. The SureStore is positioned for servers with between 18 Gbytes and 70 Gbytes of data.
The SureStore is available in a stand-alone configuration. Two units can fit on a standard rack with optional kits.
The $8,995 unit includes features such as an Adaptec SCSI host adapter, SCSI cable and terminator, five cartridges, a cleaning cartridge and full-featured, time-out versions of software from Cheyenne Software, part of Computer Associates International Inc.; Seagate Software; Legato Systems Inc.; and HP.
The new FastStor from Advanced Digital Information Corp., based in Redmond, Wash., is a single-drive autoloader with up to seven tapes. One of the tapes can be a cleaning tape for automated cleaning of the heads.
Stephen Whitner, ADIC's director of marketing, said FastStor was designed to fit the same form factor as manual stackers. Two units fit horizontally on a 19-inch rack.
The FastStor cost 25 percent to 30 percent more than manual stackers, but cuts management costs with automation, Whitner said. The units were designed to replace manual stackers, not autoloaders.
The FastStor list price is $5,995 with a DLT 4000 drive, and will be in distribution sometime this month.
LAND-5 Corp., based in San Diego, has announced its PolaRAID DLT family. It provides 200 Gbytes and 350 Gbytes of compressed capacity with up to 20-Mbytes-per-second throughput, while supporting RAID levels 0, 1 and 3.
Qualstar Corp., of Canoga Park, Calif., introduced its TLS-6000 series DLT libraries with capacities from 200 Gbytes to more than 4 Tbytes.
The five models in the TLS-6000 series house up to four DLT 4000 or DLT 7000 drives, and store as many as 60 tapes. Field upgrade kits are available to double the capacity of certain models.
The TLS-6000 series will be available to VARs and system integrators starting in January, said Dan Thorlakson, vice president of operations and sales.
NCE Storage Solutions, San Diego, just introduced the AutoXpress DLT library, with five models ranging in capacity from 150 Gbytes to 4.2 Tbytes.
The libraries feature data-transfer rates of up to 6 MBps, and a mean-time between failure rate of up to 500,000 hours, NCE officials said. The libraries can hold up to 100 cartridges and a choice of up to six drives. They are available now, with prices starting at $10,000.
For integrators that need to upgrade a tape system while maintaining compatibility with legacy systems, some manufacturers offer mixed media libraries. The new AML/S libraries from Garland, Texas, supplier EMASS Inc. can accommodate up to 12 DLT 7000 drives and up to 158 cartridges per module. Up to four modules can be connected together.
The modules can accommodate up to four Philips 3490 compatible drives, IBM Magstar 3590 drives or Philips NCTP drives. All are controlled by the same module and robotics, resulting in cost savings compared to installing separate libraries, the company said. |
