IBM unveils new 1TB tape drive
The new 8-track
Friday, 29 August 2008, 09:42
BIG BLUE HAS UNVEILED a 1 terabyte tape drive capable achieving a native data transfer rate of 160 megabytes per second.
The TS1130, which utilises existing 3592 and WORM cartridges, reportedly maintains backwards compatibility with generation 1, 2 and 3 formats.
The drive also supports data encryption and features a magneto-resistive head design that significantly reduces read errors.
According to Cindy Grossman of IBM, tapes offer the "most green and cost-effective form of storage [and] will enable clients to address their growing needs for affordable and robust data solutions".
The TS1130 will be available in September at a starting price of $39,050. µ
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Good for those with specific hardware... for those of us with SCSI interfaces LTO seems the best way to go. The performance specs seem similar between the TS1130 and the future LTO-4. 

But I can't see any SMBs wanting this for normal server backups, considering the equipment cost and required hardware. The company I work for recently bought a rebranded IBM LTO-3 with .8 TB native capacity + 50 tapes for 1/3 the price of the TS1130.
I do not know what other industries use, but oil exploration uses the 3592 as it's current defacto standard for exchanging seismic data. Raw datasets can run to 500Tb, final processed datasets come out at 1Tb or better, depending on the geographic coverage and depth of acquistion. And I'm speaking here only of a single seismic survey. We handle a large number of these, and I would not describe our company as large by any measure.

Large capacity tapes are the only cost effective means we have for transporting this mass of data around. I guarantee you the oil business will buy many of these in the coming years and any later developments.
LTO is 400GB/800GB.
Is this one a 500GB/1TB or a 1TB/2TB?
The hardware encryption might be nice if it is strong enough.
But it is WORM, so not reusable...
LTO is way cheaper...
Tapes are sooo last year...

Somebody is having a laugh at $39000. 

Can't see these flying off the shelves, except when the IT manager is a c*ck with more money than sense.