- LTO tape units new capability document with 176.5 exabytes shipped
- Compression inflates numbers masking actual 70.6EB uncompressed information capability
- LTO-10 prices rise threatening tape’s long-standing affordability benefit
The LTO Program, backed by HPE, IBM, and Quantum, has reported a brand new excessive in tape capability shipments, with 176.5 Exabytes of LTO media shipped in 2024.
The announcement says this marks the fourth straight 12 months of progress for the tape format, pushed by increasing hybrid cloud methods and the calls for of AI and machine studying infrastructure.
The determine, although, comes with an asterisk. The 176.5EB is a compressed capability complete, not the uncooked determine. Based mostly on the LTO program’s commonplace 2.5:1 compression ratio, the uncompressed complete is nearer to 70.6EB. That’s the precise quantity of actual information the tapes might maintain if compression doesn’t apply.
Pricing hurdles
Since compression is determined by information kind – some recordsdata compress nicely, others like video or encrypted information barely in any respect – these numbers could be deceptive when it comes to sensible storage delivered.
“Setting a brand new progress document for the fourth 12 months in a row, LTO tape know-how continues to show its longevity as a number one enterprise storage resolution,” mentioned Bruno Hald, Basic Supervisor, Secondary Storage, Quantum.
“Organizations navigating their manner by way of the AI/ML period must reconfigure their storage architectures to maintain up, and LTO tape know-how is a vital piece of the puzzle for these in search of a cost-friendly, sustainable, and safe resolution to help fashionable know-how implementation and the ensuing information progress. We sit up for introducing the subsequent iteration of LTO tape know-how this 12 months to deliver enhanced storage capabilities to the enterprise,” he added.
These “cost-friendly” benefits are coming beneath strain, nevertheless.
LTO-10, the most recent technology of tape, carries a excessive price ticket, with cartridges promoting for between $275 and $315. That places it simply over 2x the fee per (native) terabyte in comparison with earlier variations, and whereas the capability of LTO-10 is greater, the pace stays the identical as LTO-9.
Phil Goodwin of IDC sees LTO as a part of a broader technique. “Tape’s distinctive mixture of scalability, cost-efficiency, and cyber resilience makes it a priceless part for enterprises,” he mentioned.
Whereas tape nonetheless gives long-term worth, particularly as a part of a tiered storage mannequin, the worth of LTO-10 could sluggish adoption.
For a lot of companies, spending a whole bunch per cartridge could possibly be tough to justify when lower-cost choices like cloud chilly storage proceed to increase.
The LTO Program emphasizes tape’s offline resilience and low power draw, however its strongest promoting level has at all times been value.
At $315 for 30TB native storage, that’s a harder story to inform.
