The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis
The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis
Authors: Ed Childers (IBM Corporation), Matt Starr (Spectra Logic Corporation), David Bonnie (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Bruce Gilpin (Versity Software Inc), Jim Gerry (High Performance Storage System (HPSS), IBM Corporation)
Abstract: A quick web search could convince someone that cloud has taken over the computing and storage markets, and that tape storage has been utterly abandoned. Tape storage has existed for almost 50 years and was declared “dead” 30 years ago when disk was the leading technology. As an archiving and backup technology, tape remains in prominent use, with every Fortune 100 company still using a tape library. Join us to discuss how tape technology has advanced, as well as how its future roadmap will fuel innovation and enable organizations to access new markets while successfully addressing changing business needs.
Long Description: With the arrival of exascale storage and the retention life of data increasing, high-performance computing (HPC) organizations require data storage systems that support the computer power advancements that enable high-impact research and innovation.
A quick web search could convince someone that cloud has taken over the computing and storage markets, and that tape storage has been utterly abandoned and declared “dead”. Nonetheless, as an archiving and backup technology, tape remains in prominent use, with every Fortune 100 company still using a tape library. Tape technology continues to advance, and its faster speeds, higher capacities, greater efficiencies and quicker retrieval times make it increasingly central to data protection.
Tape dominates as the storage industry’s preferred form of removable media, and remains the undeniable leader in additional categories like cost and reliability. Tape maintains an archival life of 30 years. In the midsize and enterprise markets, LTO and proprietary tape drives from Oracle and IBM compete for market share, with manufacturers collaborating to advance tape’s digital storage platform.
It was unprecedented when, in 1998, IBM, Hewlett Packard and Seagate/Certance jointly developed the LTO tape technology with the goal was of creating an open format tape technology that allowed users to draw from multiple sources for tape media and tape drives with compatibility between the three manufacturers. Leading in tape and tape drive shipments, the LTO consortium has produced 8 generations of technology and shipped over 225 million LTO cartridges, and more than 4.4 million LTO tape drives. The Consortium also gives us a published roadmap for an additional 3 generations and counting, and the IBM and Sony announcement in 2017 of a 330 TB (native) capacity tape demonstrates that tape has a long, viable future in data storage.
This session will attract attendees from the HPC and analytics communities who are dealing with the challenges of storing and managing large quantities of data. The vendor-neutral session will provide a mixture of scientific and industry-related perspectives that will appeal to engineers and scientists in academia, government and industry. The audience will engage with renowned technology experts as they explore new challenges faced by modern data centers, and how tape technology fits into that framework now and into the future. With decades of relevant experience that covers the many layers of the storage environment, presenters will provide a comprehensive view of how hardware and software work together , with engaging real-world examples. The BoF will provide value to a range of parties in any data-driven organization, from researchers interested in issues of performance and access to infrastructure managers and C-level executives mindful of long-term costs, reliability and future advancements. Attendees will interact with the presenters and leave the session with in-depth knowledge of how current tape technologies help organizations stay competitive, as well as how tape storage’s future roadmap and technology advancements will fuel innovation and enable organizations to access new markets while successfully addressing changing business needs.
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