The secret is out – LTO backup tape has made a humungous comeback, as one of the most reliable means of data storage for companies of all shapes and sizes.

Big data (the phrased used to describe when artificial intelligence is amassed in huge blogs within databases) is a huge deal in today’s world. It consists of never-ending Internet histories, social conversations, pictures, videos, and the list goes on.

The growing debate is exactly how the rapidly accumulating masses of data can efficiently be maintained, stored, and secured by companies.
According to a 2011 study, the world collectively created more than 1.8 zettabytes of data. It’s utterly impossible to put into context much data this is, but believe us when we say…it’s a ton!

Each company plays its own role in creating and amassing large amounts of data, which is likely to grow faster and faster as the time progresses.
For a handful of years, disk was thought to be THE technology when it came to all backup needs. When the amount of data grew by leaps and bounds, organizations quickly learned disk is quite expensive. Plus, vicious bugs, worms and hackers quickly proved to be disk’s worst nightmare – leaving organizations vulnerable to attack.

Fast forward to 2013 – now, the majority of leading companies have invested heavily in hybrid systems that consist of both disk and tape. For example, Google and other huge operations utilize disk for daily operations and rely on tape for data backups.
There have been moments (in very recent history) that have seen Google restore lost information with data stored on tape. Not only is tape amazingly reliable in the short-term, its durability makes data available for decades to come.

The majority of data storage experts agree that LTO tape is the past, present, and future of long-term data storage. In fact, the LTO 6 is now available, featuring a massive 35 TB of capacity. This is more than 10 times the amount of the LTO 5.
According to InformationWeek’s Mark Peters, “Despite a constant flow of ‘Tape is dead’ jibes and assertions from non-tape vendors, the technology has refused to die.”

And you can count bet your bottom dollar it will be around for years to come.

Stay tune for more blog postings each and every Tuesday and Thursday!