Thunderbolt Strikes!

Simon Anderson, Product Marketing Manager, Tape Products, Tandberg Data

As the list of companies that are adopting and supporting the Thunderbolt technology continues to grow and with Mac users working in data-intensive areas such as design, post production and broadcasting, it was obvious that we needed to introduce a tape solution which would support Thunderbolt. In March, Tandberg Data announced that its unique LTO-5 half height fibre channel drive would support Thunderbolt with the PROMISE SANLink. We believe that this will provide interesting application areas for the video and post-production market where Mac reigns. For the first time, Mac users can affordably store High-Definition video and demanding workflow applications directly to LTO tape using Thunderbolt technology. As such, it provides a fast and cost-effective way of storing terabytes of data.

So we decided to put this to the test and demonstrated the solution at NAB, and we also showed it at Apple events in London and Stockholm. The feedback? Excellent! It’s a hit. We received tremendous feedback and customers like it even more when it is combined with Linear Tape File System (LTFS). Users have faster access to data; they can simply drag and drop files to and from the tape. Tape media written using the LTFS is self-describing so that data recovery from tape is independent of any hardware or software platforms and it is easy to share content. Combine that with the LTO-5 media prices that continue to drop, and we feel we have a solid and attractive solution on our hands.

In my view, it highlights once again that tape plays a leading role when it comes to storage and data protection.