Better manage data the Sony way

AIT 8-Slot Desktop Autoloader

You wish you could relax safe in the knowledge that your data is secure in an backup storage. To negate the risk of losing all, organisations need to take initiatives to provide backup storage and security for data. The larger the organisations the greater the volume of data they have to handle and the volume is exponentially increasing, requiring lots of space to store them.

One of the most powerful and attractive storage devices is the Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) drive manufactured by the world leader in removable storage device, SONY Electronics. SONY Electronics (Singapore) Pte Ltd., MicroWorld Technolgies Inc. (MWTI) and Syscom Information Systems Ltd., authorised distributor of Sony storage solutions and MicroWorld's anti-virus in Bangladesh, held a seminar on data storage management on August 30, at Dhaka Club.

The show was conducted by Joyce Loh, regional account manager, and Chris Dapito, manager, Storage Applications of SONY Electronics, Singapore. Angelo F Fernandez, manager, technical support, MWTI, India and Shahidul Haque, managing director, Syscom Information Systems Ltd., were also present at the seminar.

What is AIT?

Advanced Intelligent Tape (AIT) is one of the latest storage media. The AIT format was first developed in 1996. It is a compact and low power-consuming media designed to achieve the highest levels of large capacity recording and high-speed data transfer, which is a standard for reliable backup and archiving tape streamers.

After its invention, the latest model, AIT-3 released in 2001, has an enormous capacity to handle up to 100 GB (native). Advanced Metal Evaporated (AME) tapes, which are reputed to be the most advanced tapes available, have been adopted for the AIT format. It provides the world's highest levels of durability for both tape and mechanism. Tape durability against wear and tear has been significantly improved by using Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) coating.

AIT StorStation Drives:

AIT drive features both hi-speed USB and i.LINK(r)/FireWire(r) (IEEE1394) connectors for plug and play compatibility with most operating systems as well as an internal ATAPI version for use in entry level servers and workstations.

With a maximum compressed capacity of 91 to 130 GB and maximum native data transfer rate of 4 to 6 MB/s, Sony's new StorStation(r)

AIT drives are equipped to handle high capacity data protection and archival duties for mobile computers, desktop PCs, workstations and small to midsize servers.

AIT Tape drives for large capacity hard disks:

With the ever-increasing volume of business data, the capacity of hard disk drives installed on servers now regularly exceed 100 GB even on low end models. With an AIT -3 tape drive, massive 260 GB of data can be recorded on a 8 mm data cartridge at a high speed data transfer rate of 31.2 MB/s. It also has optimal solutions for tape library and rack mount servers, 400,000 hours MTBF (duty 100%) and head lifetime of 50,000 hours. It is also backward compatible with AIT-1 and AIT-2.

AIT 8-Slot Desktop Autoloader:

One of the best methods of storing data on AIT could be the Desktop autoloader for small to midsize organisations as this autoloader can carry up to 8 tapes and provide ideal archive operation. The capacities for storing data in AITs (with 8 cartridges mounted) are 0.73 TB for AIT-1, 1.04 TB for AIT-2 and 2.08 TB for AIT-3. One drive can be mounted with 8 cartridges and an average accessing time of 15 seconds. The interface for desktop autoloaders is ultra wide SCSI LVD (AIT 1/2) and ultra 160 wide SCSI LVD (AIT 3).

The Rack-Mount Library:

There is a growing demand for servers, storage and network equipment to be efficiently stacked on 19-inch wide racks to reduce the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), such as system expandability, best use of space and ease of maintenance. Keeping this in mind, Sony offers its fully rack mountable LIB-162 AIT library (2U size, up to 2 drives and 16 cartridges can be mounted), LIB-81 AIT library (1U size, up to 1 drive and 8 cartridges can be mounted), and an automatic backup system combining the BSV-M1 network backup server (1U size) with either the LIB-162 or LIB-81 to utilise the AIT features. An additional feature in the LIB is the availability of Bar Code reader that minimises the loading time down to 1/6, whereas without the bar code reader it takes about 30 minutes to load.

"Small businesses and individual users do not escape the need for reliable and sophisticated data backup and protection. Yet their unique requirements necessitate a storage system that's affordable and easy to use with simple plug-and-play operation and large capacity to handle vast amounts of data with minimal effort," said Joyce Loh.

"Our new USB/i.LINK and ATAPI AIT drives open the door for small to midsize business users in Bangladesh to backup and protect their largest system files, personal files and business critical data," she added.

Mircro World Technology Inc. also made a presentation on their new antivirus software e-Scan 2003 at the seminar. With new product of MWTI it assures a combination of features to fight the threat of viruses, set security policies for parental control over content accessed by your child. It guards against Internet misuse, block Spam and offensive mails and block PopUp Ads.

SONY hopes to unleash relatively easier and faster, and more reliable and improved technologies for computerised electronic devices to keep the end-users guessing about what would be the next pleasant surprise.