The release of LTO Ultrium Generation 10 marks a milestone in the evolution of tape technology — delivering the performance, scalability, and security that modern data environments demand.
With higher capacity, enhanced security, and greater efficiency, LTO-10 empowers organizations to manage growing data volumes while maintaining a low total cost of ownership. It’s designed to seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure, ensuring long-term data protection and accessibility.
The announcement was made in the latest press release from the LTO Program, which you can read here. It highlights the format’s enduring success:
“Since the first LTO products were brought to market, over 5.7 million drives, 383 million cartridges, and 649 billion GB of media capacity have been shipped, making LTO Ultrium the most successful tape format in history.”
This release introduces unparalleled media density, reinforcing LTO’s position as a cornerstone of enterprise storage strategies. Some of the key enhancements that stand out are:
- Native data transfer rate of up to 400 MBps for full-height (FH) tape drives
- No need for initialization, simplifying deployment and reducing setup time
- Compressed capacity of up to 75 TB (30 TB native) per cartridge
- Advanced head guide assembly for improved tape dimensional stability
- Hardware-based encryption using quantum-safe AES/GCM256 symmetric keys, with support for post-quantum cryptography key exchange
- Open Recommended Access Order (oRAO), enabling more efficient data retrieval by compatible applications
- Significant interface upgrade: LTO-10 features a 32 Gbps fiber port, up from 8 Gbps in LTO-9 — enabling dramatically faster data transfer when using compression
Write Data Rate LTO 9 vs LTO 101
Read Data Rate LTO 9 vs LTO 10 1
These enhancements make LTO 10 not only a generational upgrade but a strategic solution that enables scalability and security.
The news has already gained traction across industry and business media — including a mention in Yahoo Finance via Business Wire — further validating the relevance and impact of LTO-10 in today’s data-driven world.
We’re proud to be part of this journey as LTO continues to evolve and lead in secure, scalable, and cost-effective storage solutions.