Today the LTO Program Technology Provider Companies (TPCs) (including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, and Quantum) released shipment data and a new report detailing tape media shipments. The data shows that 76,000PB of compressed capacity shipped in 2015 (up 17.8% from the previous year). The new report being launched shows both 2015 and year-over-year generational data. LTO states that this data shows tape is still a viable and important medium in the world of data storage.
Today the LTO Program Technology Provider Companies (TPCs) (including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM, and Quantum) released shipment data and a new report detailing tape media shipments. The data shows that 76,000PB of compressed capacity shipped in 2015 (up 17.8% from the previous year). The new report being launched shows both 2015 and year-over-year generational data. LTO states that this data shows tape is still a viable and important medium in the world of data storage.
The report begins in 2000 with the introduction of LTO Ultrium cartridges. It shows that more than 385,000PB of total capacity has been shipped since 2000. That number may be a little too large for most of us to conceptualize. Here’s an example: the Library Of Congress, the largest library in the world by collection size, has about 235TB of data. So according to the report, 1,638,298 Libraries of Congress have been shipped since 2000.
Looking at the chart above it is easy to see the year-over-year growth in capacity shipped. One can also see the decrease in the previous generation as new products are introduced. The overall units shipped has dropped as the newer generation (LTO-6 and LTO-7) come in higher and higher capacities, the LTO-7 for example has a compressed capacity of 15TB.
The LTO Program intends on releasing more reports in the future that indicate usage by storage professionals across media and entertainment, security, government and other verticals.
LTO Media Shipment Report (PDF)
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