AXCian,
By comparing to various competitors, you can see the technical advantage of ampex. (sorry for the form, it was pasted from my Excel file)
Ampex Ampex Ampex Ampex ATL products ATL ATL EXABYTE ADIC ADIC ADIC
Library DST 410 DST 810 DST 412 DST 812 ATL 2640 ATL 6/176 ATL 9/88 EXB-480 Scalar 224 Scalar 448 Scalar 458
Drive DST 310 DST 310 DST 312 DST 312 DLT 7000 DLT 7000 DLT 7000 Mammoth drive DLT 20000 XT DLT 4000 DLT 7000
Capacity 1.2 TB 6.4 TB 2.4 TB 12.8 TB 9.24 TB 6.16 TB 3.08 TB 3 TB 1.44 TB 1.92 TB 3.36 TB
Cartridage 25,75,165 MB same 50,150,330 GB ibid 35 GB 35 GB 35 Gb 15 GB 20 GB 35 GB
access time 16 sec 16 sec 16 sec 16 sec 68 sec 68 sec 60 sec
transfer rate 15 MB/s 15 MB/s 15MB/s 15MB/s 5 MB/s 5Mb/s 5Mb/s 3 MB/s 1.25 MB/s 1.5 MB/s 5 MB/s
# of drives 4 3 6 9 4 2 2 or 4 2 or 4
search speed 800 MB/s 800 Mb/s 800 Mb/s 800 Mb/s
form factor 19 mm 19 mm 19mm 19 mm DLT (digital linear tape) 8mm DLT DLT DLT
cost 160 K 320 K
software support CA's OSM Spectra Logic Legato system
it can be seen that Ampex has very short access time among 4 companies and transfer rate is up to 10 times higher than the competitors. So technically speaking, Ampex's DST lines are the best offering here. Also, it is worth noting that Ampex achieves all this in a very compact space.
one thing I am not sure is that whether Ampex's DST library is scalable or not. ATL does offer scalability up to 50 TB by so called Storlink technology. if anybody has a clue on this, please enlighten me.
I am fully aware of other competitors out there, but I have not finished comparisons for Sony (DTF), IBM (Magstar), Storage Tech(Panther), maybe Quantum, E-System from European (EMASS).
The weakness for Ampex is marketing and tight product lines, I don't know if it is not economic for them to make their wonderful products for the users with less budget.
I hope I can draw some attention to the discussion of ampex's products and the market for their products.
Good hunting.
PL
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