At the end of 2025, the world generated an estimated 167 zettabytes of data, with over 12 zettabytes tied to organizational backup and archival storage. Protecting this rapidly expanding digital landscape requires a robust “3-2-1” strategy, ensuring multiple copies of data across different media types, locations, and an air gapped layer.

To meet these demands, IBM—the pioneer behind the first mainframe Virtual Tape System in 1997 and a long-standing leader in virtual tape innovation—is extending its expertise in virtualization and resiliency to distributed systems.

A Proven Architecture, Reimagined for Continuous Operations

Enter the IBM Storage TS7785, a high-performance, high-availability virtual tape platform designed specifically for distributed environments. Built on more than two decades of innovation in virtual tape and GRID architecture, TS7785 introduces a modern approach to backup and recovery—one focused on scale, resiliency, and simplicity.

The TS7785 is an absolute powerhouse, built on IBM Power9+ architecture and delivering up to 4GBps of performance per cluster. It scales massively, allowing organizations to grow capacity incrementally in 20TB steps up to 11.77PB of compressed capacity, aligning performance and cost with real workload demands.

At its core, TS7785 extends IBM’s proven GRID architecture into IBM i, LinuxOne, RHEL and distributed systems without forcing changes to how organizations operate. Instead of adapting legacy designs, it delivers a purpose-built platform that simplifies modernization while preserving familiar workflows.

Delivering “All Data, Available, All the Time” Through GRID

“All Data, Available, All the Time” is not just a concept—it defines how TS7785 operates. The platform is built on a fully active-active GRID architecture that removes the traditional constraints of primary and standby systems. Every system participates equally, maintaining shared awareness of all data and enabling access from anywhere in the environment.

This means applications are no longer tied to specific systems or recovery paths. Data remains accessible regardless of where it physically resides, and the platform continuously manages availability in the background. When disruptions occur, operations continue automatically using available systems, and once systems return, updates are reconciled without intervention.

By design, TS7785 eliminates the need for failover events, transforming backup environments from reactive systems into resilient, continuously operating platforms.

Predictable Performance and Unified Data Access at Scale

As data volumes increase, consistency becomes as critical as raw performance. Many backup systems rely on deduplication, which can introduce fragmentation, latency, and variability—especially during restore operations. Over time, these challenges make recovery unpredictable and difficult to manage.

TS7785 takes a different approach by using in-line compression to reduce storage footprint while preserving the sequential structure of data. This ensures consistent and reliable restore performance, eliminating the overhead associated with rehydration and metadata lookups.

Performance is further strengthened by the system’s unified data model. TS7785 presents a single logical virtual tape environment across the GRID, allowing all systems to access all data seamlessly. This removes the need to manage data placement or track copies, improving efficiency while ensuring faster, more predictable recovery.

Seamless Integration Across Cloud, Archive, and Enterprise Workloads

Modern data protection strategies must extend beyond traditional data center boundaries. TS7785 integrates cloud and archive storage directly into its architecture through its Cloud Storage Tier, enabling policy-driven data movement across performance storage, S3-based cloud environments, and IBM Storage Deep Archive.

This allows organizations to align storage costs with data value, automatically moving less active data to lower-cost tiers while maintaining accessibility. Once data is written to cloud or archive, it becomes immediately available across the GRID, creating a unified data ecosystem without silos.

TS7785 also integrates seamlessly into enterprise environments. It aligns with IBM i workloads through BRMS and LPAR-based architectures, while supporting LAN-free backup for distributed systems using IBM Storage Protect. Data can move efficiently over Fibre Channel, reducing network overhead and improving performance without requiring changes to existing processes.

A Simpler, More Resilient Future for Backup and Recovery

Traditional backup environments are often defined by complexity, requiring manual coordination across systems for failover, recovery, and data management. TS7785 eliminates this complexity by embedding automation directly into the architecture, with failover, synchronization, and recovery handled automatically based on policy. This enables the system to operate with minimal intervention while improving consistency and reducing operational risk.

At the same time, the platform is built to support both current and evolving enterprise needs. With initial support for IBM i BRMS, LinuxOne, RHEL and IBM Storage Protect, TS7785 enables efficient backup models such as LAN-free virtual tape and synthetic full retention, allowing organizations to meet long-term retention requirements without impacting ongoing operations. As environments grow, the architecture is designed to scale, supporting larger GRID configurations, deeper cloud integration, and a broader ecosystem of applications over time.

Ultimately, the IBM Storage TS7785 is more than a backup platform—it is a modern, cyber-resilient data protection solution. By combining proven GRID architecture with automation, predictable performance, and seamless cloud integration, it delivers continuous availability, simplified operations, and scalable protection, ensuring that critical data remains accessible and protected when it matters most.