IBM has begun work on new technologies designed to boost
the capacity of tape storage devices by 250 times. Using
"nanopatterning" techniques derived from the company's
microprocessor division, researchers said they expect to be able
to build cartridges that can store as much as 100Tbytes of
data.
Previously engineers have wrung more capacity out of tape
storage by narrowing the tracks of magnetic material that store
data. IBM is now able to store 704 data tracks on the 1.27cm tape
used by IBM's Totalstorage 3580 LTO Generation 3 drives. This
device can store about 400Gbytes of data, but to store more than
the 1Tbyte of data IBM is planning for its next-generation
products, researchers said they will have to make some major
changes to the way they manufacture tape.
The Almaden researchers are exploring ways they can use chip
techniques such as reactive ion etching (a precise method for
putting patterns on film) or sputter deposition (a method of
applying film in a controlled way) to increase the storage capacity
of tape.
The ultimate goal is to shrink the size of the tape tracks so
that more data can be squeezed onto the same area. "The track size
is about 10 microns," said Spike Narayan, a senior manager with IBM
Research. His group of 10 researchers hopes to shrink that size
down to about 0.5 micron, or 500 nanometers, within the next five
years. "This will carry us all the way to the 100Tbyte regime," he
said.
The problem that Narayan's researchers are grappling with has to
do with the magnetic particles that record the 1's and 0's that
make up data, and the way they cover today's tape media. Magnetic
particles painted on today's tapes are about one micron - one
millionth of a metre - in size, but to create data tracks that are
smaller, new manufacturing processes will have to be developed.
Another problem is the placement of magnetic particles, which
are randomly distributed on the tape. As the tracks get smaller,
particles will need to be placed in a precise and predictable
fashion to ensure these ultra-small tracks will have magnetic
material - and not simply blank tape - on which to record.
Though Narayan was reluctant to predict when IBM might bring its
first 100Tbyte tape devices to market, he said cartridges that can
store a terabyte of data will hit the market within 18 months. The
3580 tapes store 400Gbytes of uncompressed data at present.
Sales of tape drives are expected to decline slightly over the
next few years, dropping from £1.3bn in sales this year to £9.8m by
2008, according to analyst firm IDC. However, the market for
enterprise and mid-range tape devices is on the rise, the company
said.
"This is not a technology IBM is ignoring," Narayan said. "Over
the past decade or so, people have questioned the future of storage
tape technology. Every time it has come back.
Robert McMillan writes for the IDG News Service