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2014-15 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER’S GUIDE By Ben Maas and Jerome Wendt

2013-14

E M P O W E R I N G T H E I T I N D U S T RY W I T H A C T I O N A B L E A N A LY S I S · W W W. D C I G . C O M

The Insider’s Guide to EvaluatingBig Data Tape Libraries

© 2014 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. Licensed to Oracle Corporation with unlimited and unrestricted distribution rights.

2014-15 BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY BUYER’S GUIDEThe Insider’s Guide to Evaluating Big Data Tape Libraries

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Table of Contents

16 Dell PowerVault ML6010



19 Dell PowerVault TL2000

20 Dell PowerVault TL4000

21 HP StoreEver ESL G3 100-Slot






27 HP StoreEver MSL2024



30 IBM TS3100

31 IBM TS3200

32 IBM TS3310

33 IBM TS3500

34 Oracle StorageTek SL150



37 Overland Storage NEO 200s

38 Overland Storage NEO 400s

39 Overland Storage NEO 2000e



42 Quantum Scaler i40

43 Quantum Scaler i80

44 Quantum Scalar i500

45 Quantum Scalar i6000

46 Spectra Logic T50e

47 Spectra Logic T120





52 Spectra Logic T-Finity

53 Tandberg Data Storage Library T24

54 Tandberg Data Storage Library T40+




58 Product Rankings Dashboard

Appendices

A-1 Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

B-1 Appendix B—Storage Provider Contact Information

C-1 Appendix C—Author Contact Information

1 Introduction

3 Executive Summary

5 How to Use this Buyer’s Guide

6 Disclosures

6 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

7 The 8-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Tape Libraries

8 DCIG Comments & Thoughts

8 The Big Data Tape Library Category as a Whole

8 The Rise of LTO-6

8 The Evolving Role of Tape

9 REST APIs and Secondary Cloud Storage

9 DCIG Observations & Recommendations

9 Best-in-Class and Recommended Rankings

10 Excellent Ranking

10 Good Ranking

11 Basic Ranking

12 Big Data Tape Library Scores and Rankings

15 Big Data Tape Library Models



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1. "Tape Rescues Big Data." The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 26 Sept. 2013. Web. <http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/09/information-storage>.

2. Ibid.

Introduction No one would make the statement that tape as a storage medium will ever leapfrog disk again as the preferred method of data storage. However it can be said with confidence that one of the oldest computer storage medium is holding steady in its current niche and is here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future.

Expansive tape libraries remain a necessity as the Big Data market grows ever larger each year. An illustration of this growth is that while tape sales dropped by 14% in 2012 overall, sales actually rose by 1% in the third quarter of 2012, and some analysts expect them to increase again by at least 3% in calendar year 2013.1 The amount of data growth is becom-ing exponentially greater with small, medium and large enterprise organizations alike gener-ate much more data. As they do, they are coming to the realization (again) that storing data to tape remains a cost-effective and viable option.

The benefits of tape over disk for long-term storage are well-documented. However it is worth repeating to reinforce why tape is still necessary, and why its allure will hold steady or possibly even grow slightly as the need for data storage capacity expands.

Tape is good at leaving data at rest. This makes the cost structure of tape particularly attractive to users with large data sets that, once created, stay relatively static. Most Big Data datasets are constantly growing, but once data is created, that data rarely changes. On the other side, disk can present disadvantages to the storage of static data because the operational costs of keeping disk drives spinning are much greater than tape’s inherent state of “set it and forget it.”

Tape also offers distinctive security and reliability advantages over disk. Data backed up to tape is typically more secure than data stored on disk or in the cloud because, in part, tape can make data more difficult to access and then retrieve. As a result, the average hacker is more likely to spend time trying to hack a storage cloud than to go to the trouble of break-ing into a storage facility where tape backups are stored, retrieve those tapes, load them into a tape library, and then go through each tape cartridge to find and access the data stored on them.

Lastly, tape libraries are still more physically reliable than disk. For instance, tapes can be repaired after snapping to make the data readable again. In contrast, a failed hard disk drive (HDD) is often rendered useless with the data on it becoming inaccessible.

To put this contrast into perspective, data loss could range from a lost terabyte on a failed HDD while on a repaired tape the loss could be limited to as little as a few hundred mega-bytes (or less) lost. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research that operates the world's largest particle physics laboratory, is a perfect example of the effective difference between data loss from tape backup versus disk storage. While it loses a few hundred MBs each year out of its 100 PB tape library, it loses about a few hundred TBs during the same time period from its HDD storage repository of 50 PB.2

Aside from the various legacy advantages that tape still holds over disk, there are some advances being made in tape storage medium, most notably with REST APIs, which are one of the new features identified and scored by the DCIG 2014-15 Big Data Tape Library



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Introduction (continued)

Introduction (continued) Buyer's Guide. REST uses a subset of HTTP, a protocol with which many programmers are already familiar, meaning they can write code for it with few complications. Furthermore, REST APIs are web-based services and protocols that make up much of the underpinnings of new public and private cloud datasets.

Roughly one out of every four of the models surveyed for this Buyer's Guide support the ability to store data directly to tape using REST. As a way to ease the initial ingest of data and migration between different tiers of data storage, at least one vendor, Spectra Logic, is simulating the Amazon S3 REST protocol. Additionally, nine models further support the ability to store data to secondary cloud storage. The combination of REST APIs with cloud storage being offered more closely alongside tape storage is a significant step forward for the tape storage industry.

The DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide focused on the then recently intro-duced LTFS (Linear Tape File System) as the major advancement in tape storage. Although an important advancement, that technology has not contributed to the expansion of the medium as much as one might have been expected. It does appear, however, that REST APIs are set to be the next “big thing” in the near future and will help to further cement tape as the optimum choice for organizations tasked with storing and keeping safe massive quantities of data for extended periods of time in a cost-effective manner.



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Executive Summary

Executive Summary

There has been a campaign against tape since at least the turn of the century as disk storage vendors, historically the competitors of tape storage, have sought to sunset tape technology. As storage advancements have increased, hard drives have become cheaper and able to handle larger amounts of data with fewer complications. Despite the techno-logical advancements for disk, however, it still cannot challenge tape for its supremacy in its ability to store large amounts of data for lengthy periods of time, and do so with relatively few associated risks.

Tape has long held some notable advantages over disk-based storage, and those benefits still remain relevant. Some of those include:

• Reliability—Tape tends to store long-term data better than disk, and data recovery is easier to accomplish on a broken tape than a failed hard disk

• Security—Tape can be packed away and stored where it must be physically accessed, giving it a tangible advantage over data stored on disks that can be accessed on computer.

• Cost Savings—Tape can prove to be more economical than disk because of the price of tape cartridges, its longevity and the fact that it can be scaled incrementally (only need to purchase one tape cartridge at a time.)

Compared to the previous edition, this Buyer’s Guide puts a larger focus on hardware encryption and the benefits it brings to tape libraries. Though many may consider encryp-tion to be a disk-based technology, it is and has been widely available for tape for some time and only serves to strengthen this medium as a consistently appropriate option for long-term data storage.

Tapes can also be dynamically partitioned, similar in concept to how disk drives can be partitioned to treat a single drive as if it were multiple disks.

Although encryption and partitioning technologies are exciting feature sets that help tape compete against disk storage, the way forward for tape likely rests, no pun intended, with REST (REpresentational State Transfer) APIs. REST API is web protocol object storage that is already familiar to most programmers, is an alternative to SOAP and its programming code can be written in a more natural language to execute operations. Most notably, it is already available in about 25% of the tape libraries included in this Buyer’s Guide.

Along with REST APIs, optional secondary storage is being offered by many of the tape vendors in this Buyer’s Guide. As many companies have already done, storing data in "the

cloud” is now offered by a number of tape providers. Using this option data is concurrently written to tape and the cloud so dual copies of the data are made to provide the respective benefits that both the cloud and tape have to offer.

For the purpose of this Buyer’s Guide, all tape library models included in it support at least 24 tape cartridge slots and two tape drives. All models also support the LTO-4 tape format or later.

It is for reasons like these that DCIG produced this 2014-15 Big Data Tape Library Buyer's

Guide. All the evidence supports tape remaining a viable and important storage medium for the foreseeable future. In this Buyer's Guide, DCIG accounts for tape’s historical use case



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Executive Summary (continued)

Executive Summary (continued)of backup as well as its continuing emergent role as a cost effective storage medium for archival data that is necessary in the era of Big Data.

Like other DCIG Buyer’s Guides, this DCIG 2014 Big Data Tape Library Buyer's Guide accomplishes the following objectives:

• Provides an objective, third party evaluation of tape libraries that weights, scores and ranks their features from an end user’s viewpoint

• Includes recommendations on how to best use this Buyer’s Guide

• Scores and ranks the features on each tape library based upon criteria that matter most to end users so they can quickly know which tape libraries are the most appropriate for them to use and under what conditions

• Provides data sheets for 44 tape libraries from eight different storage providers so end users can do quick comparisons of the features that are supported and not supported on each tape library

• Provides insight into which features on a tape library will result in improved availability and increased storage capacities

• Provides insight into which tape libraries are supported by popular archiving and backup software products

• Gives any organization the ability to request competitive bids from different providers of tape libraries that are apples-to-apples comparisons

We hope this Buyer’s Guide meets this intended use case in your environment.

Ben and Jerome



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How to Use this Buyer’s GuideIn determining how to best use the information contained in this DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide, it is important to note that it is intended to help users in their purchase of a tape library. The purpose of this Buyer’s Guide is NOT to tell users exactly which tape library to purchase. Rather, it is to help guide them in coming up with a list of competitive products that have comparable features that meet their specific needs.

It is also important to note that just because a product scored higher than another, achieved the highest in a particular category or is ranked a certain way does not automatically mean that it is the right product or fit for an organization. If anything, because of the scope of the tape library models evaluated and analyzed, it may have features that are too robust for the needs of an individual department or organization.

However, what this Buyer’s Guide does is give users some sense of how each tape library compares to other tape libraries as well as offers substantial insight into what prod-uct offerings are available on the market.

DCIG recommends that you use this DCIG 2014–15 Big

Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide in the following seven ways:

• Eliminate the painstaking research associated with

coming up with a short list of tape libraries that

meet their needs. This Buyer’s Guide ranks, scores and contains data sheets for 44 different models from 8 different tape library providers. Each tape library is scored and then ranked as Best-in-Class, Recommended,

Excellent, Good and Basic based upon its overall score. On each tape library, over 80 different features were evaluated, weighted, scored and then ranked. Using this guide, an organization may only have to look at the scores and features of each product in order to come up with a short list of products for consideration.

• Do apples-to-apples comparisons of tape libraries

from different storage providers. In today’s crowded storage market, it behooves organizations to get competitive bids from multiple storage providers. After all, when they compete, you win! But that tactic only works well when organizations know that they are receiving competitive bids on products that are roughly comparable. Using this DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape

Library Buyer’s Guide, organizations can do a better job of accomplishing that objective.

• Separate the apples from the oranges. Just as important as doing apples-to-apples comparisons is identifying when an orange is thrown into the mix. Sometimes it is very difficult for an organization to know if it is truly getting a good deal when bids come in from multiple storage providers that include different tape library models. Now organizations can refer to the scores and rankings of each tape library in this guide so they know when they are getting a good deal, a great deal or just a so-so one.

• Provides perspective on how models from less

well known storage providers compare against

established and better known brands. Anyone involved with tape storage at all has probably heard of HP, IBM, Quantum and Oracle (formerly StorageTek). This creates a certain built-in comfort level when buying products from these companies and a corresponding built-in resistance to buying tape libraries from companies that may be perceived as unknown quantities.

This Buyer’s Guide helps to remove some of that apprehension about buying from a less well known provider or even a less well known model from an established provider. Using this Buyer’s Guide organiza-tions can see how these models from lesser known companies as well as lesser known models from established providers stack up.

• Normalizes complex storage terminology. Every computing industry has a proclivity to adopt acronyms and jargon that is specific to it but the data storage industry seems to go out of its way to not only use unfamiliar terms, but refer to the same technology in different ways. This Buyer’s Guide sifts through the acronyms and storage jargons and terms and normalizes them. This minimizes or even eliminates the need for users to try to understand all of the industry terminology.

• Creates a standardized data sheet. The product data sheets available from the different storage providers are rarely laid out in the same way or contain the same information. Some storage providers even have data sheet formats that vary from model to model within their own product portfolio. This Buyer’s Guide tackles this problem by creating a standard, easy to read data sheet



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for every tape library. In this way, product data sheets for individual products can be printed out, laid down side by side and then the features on them quickly compared.

• Helps justify technical buying recommendations

to business folks. Nothing is easier for those on the business side to understand than a number when doing comparisons. So at the top of the data sheet for every tape library model, a product score is included so the business side of the house can quickly see how the different tape library models compare.

DisclosuresOver the last few years the general trend in the US has been for both large and boutique analyst firms to receive some or all of their revenue from storage providers.

DCIG is no different in that respect as it also receives payment for the different services it performs for storage providers. The services that DCIG provides include blog-ging, customer validations, product reviews, executive white papers, special reports and white papers.

In the interest of being fully transparent, a number of the storage providers included in this DCIG 2014–15 Big Data

Tape Library Buyer’s Guide are or have been DCIG clients. This is not to imply that they were given preferential treat-ment in the Buyer’s Guide. All it meant was that DCIG may have had more knowledge of their tape libraries and that DCIG would consider their tape libraries for inclusion in this Buyer’s Guide.

In that vein, there are a number of important facts to keep in mind when considering the information contained in this DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide and its merit.

• No storage provider paid DCIG any fee to develop this Buyer’s Guide.

• DCIG did not guarantee any storage provider that its tape library(ies) would be included in this Buyer’s Guide.

• DCIG did not imply or guarantee that a specific tape library model would receive a good score on this Buyer’s Guide ahead of time.

• All research was based upon publicly available informa-tion, information provided by the storage provider and the expertise of those evaluating the information.

• Because of the number of features analyzed, how these features were weighted and then how the tape library models were scored and ranked, there was no way for DCIG to predict at the outset how an individual tape library model would score or rank.

• DCIG wants to emphasize that no storage provider was privy to how DCIG did the scoring and ranking of the tape libraries. In every case the storage providers only found out the scores and rankings of its tape library model(s) after the analysis was complete.

Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaThe DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide has incorporated input from key users and tape provid-ers into establishing the criteria used to decide what tape libraries belong or did not belong in this Buyer’s Guide, but likely failed to account for all variables. While this may have resulted in a specific model not being covered in this Buyer’s Guide when it may have rightfully belonged, DCIG believes the following criteria was consistently applied as we did our research and made our decisions.

The focus of this survey is to evaluate tape library solutions that meet the following requirements:

• Support a minimum of 24 tape cartridge slots. DCIG found that those tape models that support less than 24 tape cartridge slots are better classified as autoloaders.

• Support at least two (2) tape drives. Like the 24 tape cartridge slot requirement, DCIG found that those tape models that support only one (1) tape drive are better classified as autoloaders.

• Support LTO-4 or later technology.

• Sufficient information available to DCIG to make

meaningful decisions. DCIG made a good faith effort to reach out and obtain information from as many tape library providers as possible by providing surveys for them to complete. In a few cases tape library models still had to be excluded because of a lack of reliable data.

• Shipping by October 31, 2013. A cutoff date had to be put in place or this Buyer’s Guide would never be published. Some allowances were made for feature or product enhancements that were made in late 2013 that did not adversely affect the analysis done in developing this Buyer’s Guide.



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The 8-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Tape LibrariesTo score and rank each tape library, DCIG went through an eight step process to come to the most objective conclusion possible.

1. DCIG listed out all of the features available on tape

libraries. Prior to selecting the features that were included in the final evaluation in the Buyer’s Guide, DCIG went through and quantified what features tape libraries possessed. As part of this process, DCIG normalized the list of features available on a tape library such that a common name for each feature was established.

2. DCIG established which features would be

included in the Buyer’s Guide and which ones

would not. One of the goals of this Buyer’s Guide was to try to only include features on each tape library model that could be objectively and authoritatively analyzed.

For example, Raw Storage Capacity (Max) was evaluated as a feature instead of Maximum Compressed

Storage Capacity. While many users may take advan-tage of compression features found on tape libraries, a consistent objective answer cannot be determined since various data types will compress differently. So Raw

Storage Capacity (Max) was selected as the feature to be evaluated since an objective answer could be ascertained and supported.

3. Each feature had a weighting associated with it. The weightings were used to reflect if a feature was supported and potentially how well it was implemented. For example, the Power Supplies–Redundant feature is more of a Yes or No type of response, whereas the Backup Software

feature could elicit a number of different responses, with the tape library able to be managed by a number of different backup software products. As such, these features were weighted and scored differently.

4. A survey that asked about all of the features

scored in this Buyer’s Guide was sent to each

storage provider. In addition to using the information that was publicly available on each storage provider’s website, each storage provider included in this Buyer’s Guide had the opportunity to respond to a survey sent to it by DCIG. This was done to both verify that the information DCIG found on the storage provider’s

website was correct and remove any ambiguities that existed regarding how some of the features were implemented.

5. All vendors were given the opportunity to review

their data sheets before the final scores and

rankings were determined. To ensure the information presented in this Buyer’s Guide is as up-to-date and reliable as possible, DCIG provided each vendor with a copy or copies of their respective data sheets that appear in this Buyer’s Guide without the scores and

rankings on them. In this way they had the opportunity to validate the information and potentially correct it before it was publicly released.

6. All of the features were scored based upon the

information presented in this Buyer’s Guide.

The weighting and scoring of the tape libraries found in this Buyer’s Guide was done by DCIG based on past experience with other Buyer’s Guides and input from end users. Only features that are presented in this Buyer’s Guide were used to arrive at the final scores and rankings for each product.

7. The features were broken down into four general

categories. The features included in this Buyer’s Guide broke down into a total of four broad categories that are reflected on each tape library data sheet. These four categories are Hardware, Management, Software and Support.

8. The tape libraries were ranked using standard

scoring techniques. One of the goals of this Buyer’s Guide is to establish clear lines of differentiation between tape libraries with conclusions that are arrived at objectively. To accomplish this goal, the mean or average score for each classification was first deter-mined and then the standard deviation.

Using the mean of the scores from all of the tape libraries from which the standard deviation was calculated, DCIG developed a ranking for each tape library model based upon the following in each classification:

• Those models that were .5 or greater standard deviations below the mean were given the rank of Basic.

• Those models that were .5± standard deviations above or below the mean were ranked as Good.



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• Those models that were .5–1.5 standard deviations above the mean were ranked as Excellent.

• Those models that were greater than 1.5 standard deviations above the mean were ranked as Recommended.

• The model with the highest score was given the designation of Best-in-Class.

• It is for these reasons that the number of models that achieved a certain ranking in each classification varied.

DCIG Comments & ThoughtsThe Big Data Tape Library Category as a Whole

In 1951 the US Census Bureau bought eight Remington Rand UNISERVO tape drives to replace punch cards on its UNIVAC I computer system ushering in the tape age.1 For a good portion of the general public, the tape drive was the computer.

If news footage of NASA was shown, there were rooms full of tape drives on display. Movies from the era that portrayed computers always had lots of blinking lights and a tape drive that moved so it was known to be “working.” Tape, it could be said, was cool. Even as late as the early 1980s, HDDs were still rare and tape was the most predominant means of long term storage.

With a history like this it is not surprising that for many stor-age engineers and especially those who are young associate the tape storage market as being “old tech”—stale, overly conservative, and well, just not cool. To a certain extent this reputation is deserved, and for good reason. Tape just gets the job done and has done so for over sixty years now. The tape industry is also conservative by nature because its job for those sixty years has been to never lose data.

It should be noted that one vendor, Qualstar, has left the tape library market since the DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape

Library Buyer’s Guide was realeased. However, the loss of one vendor does not reflect upon the overall state of the current market. Those who believe tape is dead or try to insinuate such a position are sorely mistaken. That same conservative attention to standards and long term data

availability continues to keep tape viable. Tape particularly continues to shine for at-rest or cold storage of data, when data needs to be stored but either not accessed or is accessed very infrequently. DCIG has identified a number of features that are being implemented by vendors to continue tape’s reign as king of the archive.

The Rise of LTO-6

Tape manufacturers have made methodical improvements to both tape drives and tape cartridges. For instance, the open standard LTO (Linear Tape-Open) format has roughly doubled its raw capacity every two to three years since it was initially released in 2000. The latest incarnation, LTO-6, began shipping in late 2012 and early 2013 and has a raw capacity of 2.5 TB. LTO has become ubiquitous enough that once again support for LTO is a requirement for tape libraries’ inclusion in the DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape

Library Buyer’s Guide.

In the DCIG 2012 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide, research on included models found limited deployment of LTO-5. This lacking support for LTO-5, however, is certainly not the case with LTO-6. The jump from the 800 GB capacity of LTO-4 to 2.5 TB in LTO-6 was a significant increase in capacity and vendors unable to make the jump would have likely perished. A recent market survey of tape cartridge sales illustrates the mass movement towards LTO’s newest iteration by showing a move away from LTO-4 to LTO-5 and LTO-6.2

The arrival of LTO-6 has made several features standard on the tape libraries surveyed. Hardware encryption and parti-tioning are possibly the most important of these standard-ized features. Hardware encryption is also seen as extremely important in tape’s role of at-rest storage. The ability to partition tapes is also now supported by nearly all models surveyed based on its requirements for licensing of LTO-5.

The Evolving Role of Tape

Tape providers have begun to differentiate themselves in how they migrate data between disk, tape, and even the cloud. The additional option of data migration that tape library providers include is in part based on the increasing presence of disk-based appliances and public and private storage clouds.

1. Maleval, Jean-Jacques. "First Computer Tape Drive Originated From Remington Rand." StorageNewsletter. Micro-Journal, 31 May 2012. Web. http://www.storagenewsletter.com/rubriques/tapes/remington-rand-uniservo-ibm726/.

2. Santa Clara Consulting Group. "WW Tape Cartridge Sales at $142 Million in 3Q13 – Santa Clara Consulting Group." StorageNewsletter. Micro-Journal, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. http://www.storagenewsletter.com/rubriques/market-reportsresearch/ww-tape-cartridge-sales-at-142-million-in-3q13-santa-clara-consulting-group/.



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An early step in tape vendors offering more options was tracked in the 2012 Buyer’s Guide. LTFS (Linear Tape File System) is intended to make it easier to use tape by making the tape library appear as a normal file system that can read and write files like any familiar disk drive based file system. While the number of models supporting LTFS increased from about 50% in the 2012 Buyer’s Guide to 75% in this year’s edition, LTFS has not achieved the mind share level of adoption that some expected it to capture.

REST APIs and Secondary Cloud Storage

A more promising methodology is the use of REST APIs to perform object-based storage operations on tape libraries. REST (REpresentational State Transfer) APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) take advantage of a subset of the HTTP (web) protocol to provide programmers a standard-ized method of storing objects without needing to know the underlying storage medium.

REST APIs have become particularly popular with cloud storage services such as Amazon, which uses them for its S3 platform. Two vendors featured this year, Spectra Logic and Oracle, report that they support using the cloud for secondary storage while HP plans to add this feature to its tape library models in 2014. When cloud is used for second-ary storage, data is written both to tape and to a public or private cloud for additional redundancy and ease of use.

The usage of both REST APIs and the offering of cloud stor-age as a secondary source can be expected to increase in popularity and effectiveness over the next several years.

The Growing Scale of Tape Libraries

One other change in this 2014–15 Buyer’s Guide is that the number of large-scale libraries with more than 64 drives and/or 1000 cartridge slots grew by an amount significant enough to warrant inclusion in scoring. In the DCIG 2012

Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide, models that exceeded the above criteria did not receive additional points. However, in 2014 over 20% of models evaluated exceeded both of these criteria. Such a high concentration of tape libraries meeting the criteria forced a reevaluation of this Buyer’s Guide’s scoring methodology. The Guide now favors raw capacity over cartridge slot counts and no longer imposes a ceiling on the number of supported drives.

Tape is often the right choice for long-term data storage for many enterprise organizations and all indications support

that tape library vendors are making improvements to their product lines to meet new trends in the storage industry.

DCIG Observations & Recommendations

Best-in-Class and Recommended Rankings

Observations

The Oracle StorageTek SL8500 ranked highest of the models evaluated in the DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s

Guide, earning the Best-In-Class ranking. Coming in only a fractional point behind was the lone model that earned DCIG’s Recommended ranking: the Spectra Logic T-Finity.

In general, both of the top-scoring libraries:

• Scale to several hundred petabytes of data

• Scale to hundreds of drives and over one-hundred thousand cartridges

• Support the majority of backup and archive software packages tracked in this Guide

• Support 10Gb Ethernet

• Support the REST APIs

• Offer tape drive virtualization

Both models are truly “Big Data” offerings engineered to handle tremendous volumes of data. The Oracle StorageTek SL8500 scales to over 850 PB of raw (uncom-pressed) data, while the Spectra Logic T-Finity can scale to 1 XB (exabyte) of raw data. Assuming the LTO-6 standard of 2.5:1 compression, these installations can both handle in excess of a staggering 2 XB of compressed data.

Necessarily, to handle all that data these models support 10Gb Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC) for storage network connectivity. Both models also include high availability (HA) features such as redundant robotics, redundant fan and power supplies, and “Active-Active” I/O controllers. Also supported are advanced features such as REST object storage and tape drive virtualization.

The Oracle StorageTek SL8500A is a new model in this year’s Buyer’s Guide scoring well across all categories, placing first in Software and second in both Hardware and Management. Oracle’s support for advanced features such as REST, tape



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drive virtualization, and 10Gb Ethernet show a commitment to continually pushing its flagship tape storage library forward.

The Spectra Logic T-Finity missed defending its DCIG 2012

Big Data Tape Library Best-In-Class ranking by a fraction of a point. The addition of LTO-6 and more pass-through capacity allowed the T-Finity to scale to the largest raw capacity, over 1 XB, of any of the models evaluated. Spectra Logic was also the only vendor in this survey to support secondary cloud storage across all of its models.

Recommendations

Organizations looking for cost-effective, flexible storage options in the hundreds of petabytes and beyond should consider tape libraries that overall ranked Recommended or higher. When properly managed, the size and perfor-mance of these tape libraries can provide near disk-like performance using non-traditional interfaces such as LTFS and REST APIs, while still supporting legacy tape imple-mentations. By centralizing management of such large installations, enterprises can further drive down costs of long-term archives and backup data stores.

Excellent Ranking

Observations

Big Data Tape Libraries ranked as Excellent generally shared the following characteristics:

• Rank Excellent or above in both Management and Software

• Include either redundant controllers or robotics, but not both

• Support most archival and backup software

• Offer tape drive virtualization support

• Offer LTFS support

• Support the ability to scale by allowing multiple appliances to act as one

This ranking included two individual models and two product families:

• IBM TS3500

• Spectra Logic T series

• HP StoreEver ESL G3 series

• HP StoreEver MSL6480

IBM’s TS3500 took the upper end of the Excellent ranking due to its top finish in the Hardware category and an Excellent ranking in Software. Its strong finish in Hardware was based on its ability to scale to 900 PB of raw data, the inclusion of redundant controllers and robotics, and a wide range of tape formats, many of which are proprietary. However, its Management scores kept it out of the top overall rankings.

The Spectra Logic T series and HP ESL G3 series anchor the Excellent group with top finishes in the Management and Software categories. Both supported a wide range of software packages and supported advanced features such as redundant robotics and tape drive virtualization.

In general, however, Spectra Logic models scored higher than HP StoreEver ESL G3 models of similar capacity. Spectra’s higher scores were in large part due to their support for REST APIs and across the board support for secondary cloud storage.

Rounding out the group is the HP StoreEver MSL6480. The MSL6480 outscored other HP models due to its support for advanced features such as tape virtualization and dynamic partitioning.

Recommendations

Organizations looking for models with a full range of enterprise management features, but with smaller capacity needs, should look to models ranked Excellent. With a wide range of capacities, starting as small as 125 TB and scaling all the way up to 900 PB, this group can fit most any data set while providing top notch management and software.

Good Ranking

Observations

Big Data Tape Libraries ranked as Good in general shared the following characteristics:

• Lack more advanced features like tape drive virtualization and REST APIs

• Lack high availability features such as redundant controllers

• Capacities ranged from 100s of TB up to 1 PB

• Rank Good or Excellent in Management

• Rank Good or Basic in Software



11

Recommendations

Big Data Tape Libraries that scored as Good are primarily best suited for small to mid-sized enterprises that require reliable tape capacity, but are willing to exchange advanced feature functionality for a lower purchase price.

There are now several models in this category that can provide capacities over 1 PB. Organizations who need this level of capacity and are willing to forgo some of the more advanced software features should consider the following models:

• Dell PowerVault ML6030 (1 PB)

• IBM TS3310 (1 PB)

• Quantum Scalar i6000 (50 PB)

• Quantum Scalar i500 (1 PB)

Basic Ranking

Observations

Big Data Tape Libraries ranked as Basic generally shared the following characteristics:

• Capacities in the mid to low 100s of terabytes

• Rank Good or Basic in Hardware

• Rank Basic in Management

• Rank Basic in Software

Recommendations

Tape libraries ranked as Basic are primarily suited for organizations that are cost conscious. They generally have a dataset in the low hundreds of terabytes or less and do not require advanced Management or Software features. That said, an outlier in this category is the Overland Storage NEO 8000e with a capacity of 2.5 PB, well outpacing most of the other models in the Basic ranking. The prototypi-cal model in this category is a 24-slot library that supports either one or two drives.

Both Dell and Tandberg Data deserve recognition in this category for having Hardware that scored well despite lower Management and Software rankings.



12

BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY SCORES AND RANKINGSThe scores and rankings for the big data tape libraries contain the following information:

• A chart that includes the scores and rankings for all of the products

• The mean and the standard deviation that were used to establish how each big data tape library was ranked

• A summary of the primary findings



13

continued on next page

OVERALL SCORES AND RANKINGS

BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY SCORE RANKING

1. Oracle StorageTek SL8500 72.47 BEST-IN-CLASS

2. Spectra Logic T-Finity 72.08 Recommended

3. IBM TS3500 66.40 Excellent

4. Oracle StorageTek SL3000 66.24 Excellent

5. Spectra Logic T950 66.03 Excellent

6. HP StoreEver ESL G3 5000 slot 65.65 Excellent



9. Oracle StorageTek SL150 62.63 Excellent





14. Spectra Logic T50e 59.70 Excellent




18. HP StoreEver MSL6480 56.57 Good

19. Quantum Scalar i6000 54.27 Good

20. Dell PowerVault ML6030 49.69 Good

21. IBM TS3310 49.52 Good



24. Dell PowerVault ML6020 48.20 Good

25. Quantum Scalar i500 46.94 Good

26. Dell PowerVault TL4000 43.28 Good

27. Quantum Scalar i80 42.41 Basic

28. Dell PowerVault TL2000 42.30 Basic

29. IBM TS3200 42.13 Basic

30. Dell PowerVault ML6010 41.67 Basic



14

OVERALL SCORES AND RANKINGS (continued)

BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY SCORE RANKING

31. IBM TS3100 41.84 Basic

32. Quantum Scalar i40 39.95 Basic

33. Overland Storage NEO 8000e 38.16 Basic

34. Tandberg Data StorageLibrary T160+ 34.49 Basic






40. Overland Storage NEO 400s 25.13 Basic

41. Overland Storage NEO 200s 24.84 Basic

42. Tandberg Data StorageLibrary T24 23.70 Basic

Total Number of Products 42

Highest Score 72.47 Lowest Score 23.70 Average (Mean) 49.75 Standard Deviation 13.78

Recommended 70.43 – 72.47 Excellent 56.65 – 70.42 Good 42.86 – 56.64 Basic 23.70 – 42.85

Rankings



15

BIG DATA TAPE LIBRARY MODELS

DCIG Scores and Rankings

2013-14

16

Supported Unsupported

©2014 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. The information, product recommendations and opinions made by DCIG, LLC are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG, LLC believes to be accurate and reliable.

OVERALL SCORE Hardware Software Management Support

41.67 10.82 9.50 9.35 12.00BASIC BASIC BASIC BASIC EXCELLENT

Dell PowerVault ML6010 Approximate Starting List Price: $15,973

SUPPORT

Published Mean Time to Failure (MTTF)

N/A

Hardware Warranty 3 Years

Contract Support Availability 24×7×365

Contract Support Methods (Total #)

3

Non-Contract Support Availability

Business Day

Non-Contract Support Methods (Total #)

3

MANAGEMENT

3RD PARTY PACKAGES SUPPORTED

Backup (Total #)

8

Archive (Total #)

Data Center Management (Total #)

SNMP Support (Manage / Monitor) /

Management Methods (Total #)

3

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING

Supported (Hard / Soft) /

Licensing Included

Partition Spanning

Dynamic Partitioning

Tape Management Software Included

ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256

Key Management Software (Supported / Included) /

LTFS (Client / Tape Library) /

REST API

Secondary Cloud Storage

Tape Drive Virtualization

Lifecycle Management Software

Tape Cartridge Wear Monitoring

Tape Drive Lifecycle Monitoring

HARDWARE

Cartridge Slots (Min / Max)

1 / 41

Tape Drives (Min / Max)

1 / 2

Raw Storage Capacity (Max)

102.5 TB

Tape Drive Formats (Total #)

4

Concurrent Drive Formats

Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives

Customer Replaceable Drives

Redundant Controllers

Fans (Redundant / Hot Swap) /

Power Supplies (Redundant / Hot Swap) /

Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable

Cartridge Import / Export (Max)

6

Fibre Channel / SAS /

SCSI

Ethernet (1Gb / 10Gb) /

iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

17




48.20 17.62 7.78 10.30 12.50GOOD GOOD BASIC GOOD RECOMMENDED


SUPPORT


N/A




3


Business Day


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

7

Archive (Total #)




3

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


1 / 133


1 / 6


332.5 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


18


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

18






SUPPORT


N/A




3


Business Day


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

7

Archive (Total #)




3

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


1 / 225


1 / 10


1 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


30


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

19




42.30 13.25 8.50 8.05 12.50BASIC GOOD BASIC GOOD RECOMMENDED

Dell PowerVault TL2000 Approximate Starting List Price: $8,756

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


N/A




3


Business Day


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

6

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


1 / 24


1 / 2


60 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


1


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

20





Dell PowerVault TL4000 Approximate Starting List Price: $11,297

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT





3


Business Day


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

8

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


1 / 48


1 / 4


120 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


3


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

21




57.24 14.34 18.50 15.40 9.00EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED GOOD

HP StoreEver ESL G3 100-Slot Approximate Starting List Price: $95,302

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours

Hardware Warranty 1 Year



3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


102 / 102


1 / 12


255 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


24


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

22




59.26 16.36 18.50 15.40 9.00EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED GOOD

HP StoreEver ESL G3 300-Slot Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


100 / 300


1 / 12


750 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


24


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

23




61.66 18.76 18.50 15.40 9.00EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED GOOD


SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


100 / 700


1 / 24


1.75 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


96


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

24






SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

5


4



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


100 / 1,500


1 / 96


3.75 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


240


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

25






SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


100 / 3,000


1 / 96


7.5 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


528


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

26






SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


100 / 12,006


1 / 96


30 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


528


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

27




48.74 14.95 12.14 12.65 9.00GOOD GOOD BASIC EXCELLENT GOOD

HP StoreEver MSL2024 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


200,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



3

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


24 / 24


1 / 2


60 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

28




49.03 15.24 12.14 12.65 9.00GOOD GOOD BASIC EXCELLENT GOOD

HP StoreEver MSL4048 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


100,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



3

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


48 / 48


2 / 4


120 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

29




56.57 16.81 18.11 12.65 9.00GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD

HP StoreEver MSL6480 Approximate Starting List Price: $34,700

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT


200,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

10

Archive (Total #)

6


4



3

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


80 / 560


1 / 42


1.4 PB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


80


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

30




41.48 10.70 16.64 3.50 11.00BASIC BASIC GOOD BASIC EXCELLENT

IBM TS3100 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




3

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


24 / 24


1 / 2


60 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

31




42.13 10.99 16.64 3.50 11.00BASIC BASIC GOOD BASIC EXCELLENT


SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




3

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


48 / 48


1 / 4


120 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

32




49.52 16.27 17.50 4.75 11.00GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT BASIC EXCELLENT


SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




5

Email Notifications

Syslog

HARDWARE


41 / 409


1 / 16


1 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


48


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

33




66.40 29.91 20.24 5.25 11.00EXCELLENT BEST-IN-CLASS EXCELLENT BASIC EXCELLENT


SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


12 / 300,000


1 / 2,880


900 PB


10


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


224


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

34




62.63 15.06 21.17 14.40 12.00EXCELLENT GOOD RECOMMENDED EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

Oracle StorageTek SL150 Approximate Starting List Price: $5,833

SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


5



2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


1 / 300


1 / 20


750 TB


2


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


4


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

35




66.24 23.23 20.01 11.00 12.00EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT

Oracle StorageTek SL3000 Approximate Starting List Price: $69,124

SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9




5

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


200 / 5,925


1 / 56


50 PB


6


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


234


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

36




72.47 28.46 21.26 10.75 12.00BEST-IN-CLASS RECOMMENDED BEST-IN-CLASS GOOD EXCELLENT

Oracle StorageTek SL8500 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


1,448 / 100,880


1 / 640


857 PB


10


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


78


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

8

Archive (Total #)

9




5

Email Notifications

Syslog


2013-14

37




24.84 5.70 9.14 3.00 7.00BASIC BASIC BASIC BASIC BASIC

Overland Storage NEO 200s Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


24 / 24


1 / 2


60 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

38





Overland Storage NEO 400s Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


48 / 48


1 / 4


120 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

39





Overland Storage NEO 2000e Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


30 / 240


1 / 16


600 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


15


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

40






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


60 / 240


4 / 16


600 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


15


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

41




38.16 17.02 11.14 3.00 7.00BASIC GOOD BASIC BASIC BASIC


SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




1

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


100 / 1000


1 / 24


2.5 PB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


80


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

42




39.95 7.20 15.50 12.25 5.00BASIC BASIC GOOD EXCELLENT BASIC

Quantum Scaler i40 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT





2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

9

Archive (Total #)

8


5



2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


25 / 40


1 / 2


100 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


20


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

43




42.41 9.66 15.50 12.25 5.00BASIC BASIC GOOD EXCELLENT BASIC

Quantum Scaler i80 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT





2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

9

Archive (Total #)

8


5



2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


50 / 80


1 / 5


200 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


20


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

44




46.94 13.69 15.50 12.75 5.00GOOD GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT BASIC

Quantum Scalar i500 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT





2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

9

Archive (Total #)

8


5



3

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


41 / 409


1 / 18


1 PB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


54


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

45




54.27 21.02 15.50 12.75 5.00GOOD EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT BASIC

Quantum Scalar i6000 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT





3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

9

Archive (Total #)

8


5



3

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


100 / 12,006


1 / 192


30 PB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


1,104


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

46




59.70 14.81 20.14 13.75 11.00EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

Spectra Logic T50e Approximate Starting List Price: $11,150

SUPPORT


100,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



5

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


10 / 50


1 / 4


125 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


24


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

47




61.10 15.91 20.28 14.00 11.00EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

Spectra Logic T120 Approximate Starting List Price: $28,975

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


30 / 120


1 / 10


300 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


8


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

48






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


1

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


50 /200


1 / 8


500 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


10


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

49





Spectra Logic T380 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


3

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


50 / 380


1 / 12


950 TB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


10


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

50






MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


2

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


50 / 670


1 / 12


1.68 PB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


20


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

51




66.03 21.03 20.00 14.00 11.00EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

Spectra Logic T950 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


100 / 10,020


2 / 120


25.1 PB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


160


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

52




72.08 27.08 20.00 14.00 11.00RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

Spectra Logic T-Finity Approximate Starting List Price: $256,000

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




3


24x7x365


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

11

Archive (Total #)

9


1



6

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


100 / 400,800


2 / 960


1 XB


4


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


300


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

53





Tandberg Data Storage Library T24 Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


12 / 24


1 / 2


60 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

54





Tandberg Data Storage Library T40+ Approximate Starting List Price: N/A

SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


24 / 40


1 / 4


100 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

55






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


77 / 77


1 / 8


192.5 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

56






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


114 / 114


1 / 12


285 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant


2013-14

57






SUPPORT


250,000 Hours




2


Business Day


2

MANAGEMENT


Backup (Total #)

Archive (Total #)




2

Email Notifications

Syslog

SOFTWARE

PARTITIONING


Licensing Included

Partition Spanning



ENCRYPTION

Hardware Encryption

AES-256



REST API






HARDWARE


151 / 151


1 / 16


377.5 TB


3


Hot Swap Drives

Half-Height Drives





Redundant Robotics

Rack Mountable


12


SCSI


iSCSI

RoHS Compliant



58© 2014 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved.

HARDWAR

E

HARDWAR

E

SOFT

WARE

SOFT

WARE

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

SUPP

ORT

SUPP

ORT

OVERALL

SCORE

OVERALL

SCORE


Product Rankings Dashboard

HP StoreEver MSL6480



HP StoreEver ESL G3 5000-Slot





Best-In-Class RecommendedExcellentGood

Basic


Best-In-Class RecommendedExcellentGood Basic

Dell PowerVault TL4000


Dell PowerVault TL2000


Dell PowerVault ML6030









HARDWAR

E

HARDWAR

E

SOFT

WARE

SOFT

WARE

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

SUPP

ORT

SUPP

ORT

OVERALL

SCORE

OVERALL

SCORE


Product Rankings Dashboard (continued)

Quantum Scalar i80

Quantum Scaler i40

Overland Storage NEO 8000e



Overland Storage NEO 200s

Overland Storage NEO 400s

Oracle StorageTek SL8500




Basic



IBM TS3500


IBM TS3310


IBM TS3200


IBM TS3100





HARDWAR

E

HARDWAR

E

SOFT

WARE

SOFT

WARE

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

SUPP

ORT

SUPP

ORT

OVERALL

SCORE

OVERALL

SCORE

Tandberg Data Storage Library T120+




Tandberg Data Storage Library T24

Spectra Logic T-Finity

Spectra Logic T680


Spectra Logic T380


Basic

Spectra Logic T200


Spectra Logic T120


Spectra Logic T50e


Quantum Scalar i6000


Quantum Scalar i500


Product Rankings Dashboard (continued)

Spectra Logic T950



61

APPENDICESAppendix A: Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

Appendix B: Storage Provider Contact Information

Appendix C: Author Contact Information



A-1

Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

HardwareCartridge Slots (Min/Max)

The minimum and maximum number of tape cartridges held by the tape library in its largest configuration.

Tape Drives (Min/Max) The minimum and maximum number of tape drives that the tape library may be configured to hold.

Raw Storage Capacity (Max)The maximum raw storage capacity of each tape library based upon the highest capacity tape cartridge format it can hold.

Drive Formats (Total #)The total number of the tape drive formats that may be included in the tape library to include 3840, 3940, DLT, SDLT, LTO, and T10000. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a detailed list of supported options for any particular tape library.

Concurrent Drive FormatsThe tape library may support at least two tape drive formats of different tape technologies (e.g. DLT and LTO; or 3940 and LTO.) Tape libraries that concurrently support different LTO technologies (for example LTO-4 and LTO-5) would display an ‘X’ and reflect this feature as unsupported.

Hot Swap DrivesA check mark indicates that a tape drive may be swapped out without having to take the tape library offline to do so.

Half-Height DrivesIndicates whether or not the tape library supports half-height tape drives.

Customer Replaceable DrivesA check mark indicates that a customer may optionally replace a tape drive. A customer may still put in place a support contract to have a vendor or third party perform this task.

Definitions, Explanations and TerminologyThis section contains brief definitions and/or explanations of the terms used on the data sheets for each product found in the DCIG 2014–15 Big Data Tape Library Buyer’s Guide. These terms are in the same order as they appear on the individual tape library data sheets.

Redundant ControllersIndicates whether or not the tape library has redundant controllers.

Fans (Redundant/Hot Swap)Indicates whether or not the tape library has redundant fans, and whether or not those fans may be replaced while the tape library remains online and in production.

Power Supplies (Redundant/Hot Swap)Indicates whether or not the tape library has redundant power supplies, and also if the power supplies may be replaced while the tape library remains on line and in production.

Redundant RoboticsIndicates whether or not the tape library has redundant robotics that can place and remove tape cartridges from within a tape library.

Rack MountableIndicates whether or not the tape library may be mounted in an industry standard 19" rack.

Cartridge Import/Export (Max)Indicates the maximum number of tape cartridges that may be loaded into or unloaded from a tape library at one time.

Fibre Channel/SASIndicates the tape library supports Fibre Channel and/or Serial-Attached SCSI.

SCSIIndicates whether or not the tape library supports Small Computer System Interface (SCSI).

Ethernet (1Gb/10Gb)Indicates the maximum number of Ethernet storage networking ports supported. All models surveyed in this Guide included at least 10/100 Ethernet.



A-2

Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology (continued)

iSCSIIndicates whether or not the tape library supports Internet Small Computer System Interface. Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) is a block-based protocol for running SCSI commands over Internet Protocol (IP) on Ethernet.

Library-to-Library Pass ThroughIndicates whether or not the tape library may physically pass tape cartridges from one tape library to another without human intervention.

RoHS CompliantIndicates whether or not the tape library is compliant with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive.

SoftwarePartitioning

Indicates whether or not the tape library may be partitioned into different logical tape libraries and how that partitioning may occur. Tape partitioning may be either Hard or Soft. Some tape libraries support both Hard and Soft partitioning.

• Supported (Hard/Soft)—This indicates whether the tape library supports Hard and/or Soft partitioning.

• Licensing Included—This indicates if the tape library includes the partition license for no extra cost.

• Partition Spanning—This indicates if the tape library may span partitions, allowing the capacity of multiple storage units to be combined for larger storage needs.

• Dynamic Partitioning—This feature indicates if a tape drive that is assigned to one partition in a tape library may be dynamically reallocated to another partition on that same library. This may be done during periods of heavy workloads on a particular partition.

Tape Management Software IncludedIndicates whether or not tape management software is included at no extra cost.

EncryptionIndicates if the tape library can encrypt data stored on tape cartridges and what method it used to encrypt data stored on tape.

• Hardware Encryption—Indicates whether or not the tape library features hardware encryption.

• AES-256—AES-256 is a security algorithm initially introduced by the U.S. Government. See the DCIG

Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported access encryption methods for any particular tape library.

• Key Management Software (Supported/Included)—Indicates whether or not the tape library includes the necessary software to store, organize and otherwise manage encryption keys for the tape library’s supported encryption methods.

LTFS (Client/Tape Library)Indicates if the tape library provider offers client Linear Term File System (LTFS) software for LTO tape media. The LTFS client software enables data to be read from and written to LTO tape media in a manner that is recognizable by modern operating systems in a manner that is similar to how operating systems read from and write to disk.

Indicates if the tape library provider offers LTFS software that can access tapes that are housed by the tape library but may not be in the tape library tape drive at the time of the request for the data. This LTFS software will send a request to the tape library to retrieve the correct tape cartridge with the requested data from within the tape library.

REST APIREST (REpresentational State Transfer) APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are based on HTTP protocol and its vocabulary of operations and request methods. REST emphasizes that resources can be accessed using a URL as the parameter for operations, similar in theory to how a web browser makes a request to a URL an receives a response.

Secondary Cloud StorageIndicates if the tape library model supports cloud storage as an available secondary storage option so data can be written to cloud storage as well as to the tape appliance.

Tape Drive VirtualizationTape Drive Virtualization is a storage technology that allows for data to be saved as if it is being saved to tape with the same benefits, but it may actually be stored on disk instead.

Lifecycle Management SoftwareIndicates if the tape library includes software for managing the lifecycle of data on tape cartridges by moving data to other tape cartridges when a particular tape cartridge starts to report too many errors. Some software also detects failing tape drives and takes them offline when excessive errors are reported.



A-3

Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology (continued)

Tape Cartridge Wear MonitoringIndicates if the tape library monitors and reports on the wear of individual tape cartridges.

Tape Drive Lifecycle MonitoringIndicates if the tape library monitors and reports on the wear of individual tape drives.

Management3rd Party Software Packages Supported

• Backup (Total #)—The total number of backup software packages that the vendor indicated they support. An X signifies that DCIG was unable to obtain information on software package support or that none are supported. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported options for any particular tape library.

• Archive (Total #)—The total number of archive software packages that the vendor indicated they support. An X signifies that DCIG was unable to obtain information on software package support or that none are supported. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported options for any particular tape library.

• Data Center Operations Management (Total #)— The total number of data center operations management software packages that the vendor indicated they supported. An X signifies that DCIG was unable to obtain information on software package support. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported options for any particular tape library.

SNMP Support (Manage/Monitor)Indicates whether or not the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is supported by the tape library. Management indicates the ability to modify the configura-tion of the device. Monitor indicates the ability to read performance and status information from the device.

Management Methods (Total #)The total number of management methods that the vendor indicated they support. Management methods include front panel access, SSH, command line and web interfaces. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported options for any particular tape library.

Email NotificationsIndicates whether or not email alerts may be sent to the provider by the tape library.

SyslogA check mark indicates if the tape library supports the Syslog protocol for computer message logging. An X signifies that DCIG was unable to obtain informa-tion on software package support or that this feature is not supported.

SupportPublished Mean Time to Failure (MTTF)

Indicates whether or not the model’s MTTF has been published by the manufacturer. If publicly published or available, the stated number is included here.

Hardware WarrantyIndicates the standard length of the hardware warranty available for the tape library.

Contract Support AvailabilityIndicates the support availability offered in the manufac-turer’s contract.

Contract Support Methods (Total #)Indicates the total number of support methods available included with the contract. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported options for any particular tape library.

Non-Contract Support AvailabilityIndicates the availability of support if the product is not covered by a support contract.

Non-Contract Support Methods (Total #)Indicates the total number of support methods available outside of a support contract. See the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG) for a list of supported options for any particular tape library.



B-1

Appendix B—Storage Provider Contact Information

Dell Inc1 Dell WayRound Rock, TX 78682+1.800.247.2097, Press 2www.dell.com

HP3000 Hanover StreetPalo Alto, CA 94304+1.800.888.0262Email: [email protected]

IBM1 New Orchard RoadArmonk, NY 10504+1.800.IBM.4YOUwww.ibm.com

Oracle Corporation500 Oracle ParkwayRedwood City, CA 94065+1.303.272.9480www.oracle.com/storage

Overland Storage, Inc.4820 Overland AvenueSan Diego, CA 92123+1.888.343.7627Email: [email protected]

Quantum Corporation1650 Technology Drive, Suite 700San Jose, CA 95110-1382+1.800.677.9268Email: [email protected]

Spectra Logic Corporation6285 Lookout RoadBoulder, CO 80301-3580+1.800.833.1132Email: [email protected]

Tandberg Data GmbHFeldstr. 8144141 DortmundGermany+49 (0) 231 5436 - 0www.tandbergdata.com/us/

Storage Provider Contact Information

http://www.dell.com

mailto:eBusinessSupport%40hp.com?subject=

http://www.hp.com

http://www.ibm.com

http://www.oracle.com/storage

mailto:ossquote%40overlandstorage.com?subject=

http://www.overlandstorage.com

mailto:Alice.Borda%40Quantum.com?subject=

http://www.quantum.com

mailto:sales%40spectralogic.com?subject=

http://www.spectralogic.com

http://www.tandbergdata.com/us/



C-1

Appendix C—Author Contact Information

DCIG, LLC7511 Madison StreetOmaha, NE 68127+1.402.884.9594

CONTACT

Ben [email protected]

Jerome [email protected]

WEBSITE

www.dcig.com

Author Contact Information

mailto:ben.maas%40dcig.com?subject=

mailto:jerome.wendt%40dcig.com?subject=

www.dcig.com

2014-15...2014 dcig llc. all rigts reserved. licensed to oracle corporation with unlimited and...

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