Originally posted by: Ingrida_Cazers

As storage solutions evolve, customers are faced with a bewildering range of possibilities, which continually evolve, including cloud, disk, and tape storage. It's intriguing that so many IBM Spectrum Protect customers continue to rely on a traditional storage medium: tape. Estimates suggest that 50% to 90% of IBM Spectrum Protect customers use tape for at least some of their storage protection requirements. Why? Although hybrid cloud solutions are gaining popularity, tape still offers significant advantages:

• Protection against ransomware. In an age when computer systems are threatened by ransomware, it makes sense to store a copy of data on tape at a secure, offsite location that is not connected to the internet.
• Strategy for disaster recovery. Tape volumes can conveniently be transported to an offsite location. With IBM Spectrum Protect Extended Edition, you can use the disaster recovery manager (DRM) function to plan your strategy for a potential disaster and store data offsite. If a disaster occurs, you can use DRM to re-create your servers.
• Cost. Tape storage has a lower cost per gigabyte than alternative storage.  
• Capacity. Tape cartridges can store impressive amounts of data. For example, the IBM LTO Ultrium 7 Data Cartridge provides 6 TB of native capacity and provides up to 15 TB of capacity on a single cartridge, assuming a data compression ratio of 2.5:1. The cartridge is available in a non-erasable, non-rewritable model, which means that as long as the physical tape cartridge is retained, the data is secure and remains unchanged. That's great for long-term data retention.
• Scalability. Once a tape library is full, used tapes can be ejected and new tapes can be inserted. In contrast to disk storage, there is no requirement to buy new hardware.
• Lifespan. In general, the lifespan of disks is measured in years, while the lifespan of tape is measured in decades.
• Encryption. To provide an extra layer of protection, data that is written to tape can be encrypted by the drive with no visible impact to performance.

To help customers implement tape-based solutions, the IBM Spectrum Protect team recently unveiled the first edition of the
IBM Spectrum Protect Tape Solution Guide. The guide provides a roadmap for planning, implementing, monitoring, and operating a tape-based storage solution. Before you update your storage environment, take some time to consider your long-term strategy -- will tape play a role?