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IBM Research Reaches 29.5 Billion Bits Per Square Inch on
Tape...
The possibility to get 35TB on one
LTO cartridge
IBM researchers have demonstrated a world
record in areal data density on linear magnetic tape - a significant update to
one of the computer industry's most resilient, reliable and affordable data
storage technologies.
This breakthrough proves
that tape technology can increase capacity for years to
come, which has important implications, as tape storage
systems are more energy efficient and cost-effective
than hard disk drive storage systems. As the physical
world becomes increasingly networked with sensors, vast
amounts of data are amassed in various formats from
medical images to security camera feeds to supply chain
sensors to financial records. All of this data needs to
be archived, replicated for disaster recovery, and/or
retained or regulatory compliance.
The scientists at IBM Research - Zurich, in cooperation
with the FUJIFILM Corporation of Japan, recorded data
onto an advanced prototype tape, at a density of 29.5
billion bits per square inch - about 39 times the areal
data density of today's most popular industry-standard
magnetic tape product. (The demonstration was performed
at product-level tape speeds (2 meters per second) and
achieved error rates that are correctable using standard
error-correction techniques to meet IBM's performance
specification for its
LTO Generation 4 products.)
To achieve this feat, IBM Research has developed several
new critical technologies, and for the past three years
worked closely with FUJIFILM to optimize its
next-generation dual-coat magnetic tape based on
barium ferrite (BaFe) particles.
"This exciting achievement shows that tape storage
is alive and strong and will continue to provide users
reliable data protection, while maintaining a
cost advantage over other storage technologies,
including hard disk drives and flash,"
said Cindy Grossman, vice president, IBM Tape and
Archive Storage Systems.
These new technologies are estimated to enable cartridge
capacities that could hold up to 35 trillion bytes
(terabytes) of uncompressed data. (This calculation
assumes a roughly 12% increase in tape length due to the
reduced medium thickness.) This is about 44 times (This
has been rounded up from 43.75 times.) the capacity of
today's IBM
LTO Generation 4 cartridge.
A capacity of 35 terabytes of data is sufficient to
store the text of 35 million books, which would require
248 miles (399 km) of bookshelves.
"This tape storage density demonstration represents
a step towards developing technologies to achieve tape
areal recording densities of 100 billion bits per square
inch and beyond. Such technologies will be necessary to
keep up with the rapid increase in digital information.
IBM is in the unique position to help clients store,
maintain and analyze the wealth of data accumulating,
and thus help them achieve efficiencies and advantages
in the way they do business," comments Evangelos
Eleftheriou, IBM Fellow.
Critical business data is often contained in automated
tape libraries, where one or more tape drives service
dozens to thousands of tape cartridges. High-end tape
libraries can store petabytes - millions of gigabytes -
of information. On a per-gigabyte basis, tape systems
currently cost about one-fifth to one-tenth of a hard
disk drive (HDD) storage systems, depending on the size.
Also, tape is by far one of the most energy-efficient
storage technologies available today.
For the past several years, scientists from IBM Research
- Zurich have dramatically improved the
precision of controlling the position of the read-write
heads, leading to a more than 25-fold
increase in the number of tracks that can be
squeezed onto the half-inch-wide tape. In addition, they
have developed new advanced detection methods
to improve the accuracy of reading the tiny magnetic
bits, thereby achieving an increase in the
linear recording density of more than 50 percent.
Another key enabling technology for achieving the
required track-follow performance in this demonstration
was a new, low-friction read-write head
developed by IBM Research - Almaden, which has also been
collaborating with FUJIFILM to develop next-generation
media.
IBM has a long history of innovation in magnetic-tape
data storage. Its first commercial tape product, the 726
Magnetic Tape Unit, was announced nearly 60 years ago.
It used reels of half-inch-wide tape that each had a
capacity of about 2 megabytes. The areal density
demonstration announced today represents a potential
increase in capacity of 17,500,000 times compared with
IBM's first tape drive product. This announcement
reaffirms IBM's continued commitment and leadership in
magnetic tape technology.
IBM's world-record achievement leverages notable
improvements in four areas of the magnetic tape system:
- New
high-density, dual-coated particulate magnetic tape:
Developed by FUJIFILM Corporation in Japan in close
collaboration with IBM Research scientists, this
next-generation version of its NANOCUBIC tape uses a
new ultra-fine, perpendicularly-oriented
barium-ferrite magnetic medium that enables
high-density data recording without using expensive
metal sputtering or evaporation coating methods.
- Advanced
servo control technologies for ultra accurate head
positioning: Three new servo control
technologies have been developed by IBM Research -
Zurich, leading to a more than 25-fold increase in
the number of data tracks that can be squeezed onto
the half-inch-wide tape: 1) a new servo pattern,
enabling the generation of high-bandwidth
nanometer-scale position information; 2) a new
method for detecting and decoding the position
information encoded in the servo pattern, and 3)
advanced state-space-based control concepts that,
combined with the other two technologies, culminated
in the demonstration of an extremely precise
track-follow performance of less than 24 nm standard
deviation from the target track position. These
technologies were instrumental in reducing the track
width to less than 0.45 micrometers.
- Innovative
signal-processing algorithms for the data channel:
An advanced data read channel based on a new
data-dependent noise-predictive, maximum-likelihood
(DD-NPML) detection scheme was developed at IBM
Research - Zurich to enable the accurate detection
of the data despite the reduction in the
signal-to-noise ratio resulting from the use of an
ultra-narrow 0.2-µm data reader head. With this
technique, which also takes the noise
characteristics of FUJIFILM's BaFe medium into
account, a linear density increase of more than 50
percent relative to
LTO Generation 4
was achieved.
-
Low-friction GMR (giant magnetoresistive) read/write
head assemblies: Two new head technologies
have been developed by the tape development and
research teams at IBM Research - Almaden, namely, a
new reduced-friction head assembly that allows the
use of smoother magnetic tapes and an advanced GMR
head module incorporating optimized servo readers.
These head technologies were critical for achieving
the required track-follow performance mentioned
above.
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