InformationWeek

August 23, 1999

Fast Data Retrieval

StorageTek's tape library helps midmarket companies perform data mining

By Martin J. Garvey

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torage Technology Corp. last week introduced a tape library designed for midmarket companies, including startup Internet businesses with data mining on their agendas. The vendor says its 9738 Automated Library is a high-capacity product that lets users retrieve data more quickly than products normally aimed at this market--single-drive systems that only access data serially.

Available in a rack-mount or desktop configuration, the 9738 supports up to three 9840 drives. Together, the three drives can store as much as 600 Gbytes of uncompressed data (using 30 cartridges, each holding 20 Gbytes), or up to 1.8 terabytes of compressed data.

StorageTek says the tape drives, which can operate in Windows NT, Unix, OS/390, and OS/400 environments, provide mainframe-like performance. Fully configured with three drives, the system offers a data transfer rate of 30 Mbytes per second for uncompressed data and 60 Mbytes per second for compressed information. (For more on tape libraries, "Easier Archiving".)

"At the high end, this drive shines," says analyst Bob Abraham of Freeman Associates. "StorageTek offers a high-transfer-rate, high-capacity library. To the user, it means many more transactions per hour and higher productivity."

The StorageTek system, available now, supports a wide range of storage-management software, including Advanced Digital Information's Amass, Computer Associates' ARCserve, IBM's ADSM, Legato's NetWorker, Tivoli Systems' Storage Management Software, and Veritas' NetBackup and Backup Exec.

StorageTek says the starting price of the 9738--$44,400 with one 9840 drive--is designed to be within reach of both smaller businesses and workgroups in larger companies. "The price point is very competitive," says Abraham. "That translates to a low cost per gigabyte for customers.

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