Imation launches world’s first multi-terabyte magnetic tape

Imation India Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imation Corp, has announced an industry first - the new generation of multi-terabyte native-capacity tape.

Featuring 3.2 TB of compressed storage and data transfer rates of up to 360MB/second, the tape cartridges offer significant improvements over prior tape generations. Enhancements in servo technology and improved data compression ensure the same length of tape can store more information, allowing data centre managers to keep their existing footprints without adding space to accommodate the growth in primary storage.

The tape uses advanced metal particulate media and employs the company's proprietary TeraAngstrom technology and linear open tape open (LTO-5) format.

Imation is the first and only company to date to license the next-generation of Ultrium LTO-5 tape media, said a press release from the company.

''Imation is excited to announce this important industry milestone – the achievement of multiple terabytes of native capacity on a single MP tape cartridge,'' said Subodh Kulkarni, vice president of Imation's research, development, and engineering, and head of the company's global commercial business.

''Metal particulate media is a proven standard in data storage, and with MP-based LTO-5, we will be almost doubling the capacity of the cartridges,'' Kulkarni added.