The project to transfer this diverse, extensive catalog to magnetic tape storage serves as a reminder of how fragile a company's critical resources can be. It also highlights the changing nature of the role tape backup devices play in corporate networks. Once relegated solely to data archival and retrieval, magnetic tape drives are now offering organizations a cost-effective, reliable solution to cope with the tremendous volume of data they generate. It is also showing up in disaster recovery plans. As a result, tape backup isn't boring anymore.
Several factors are at work as the use of tape expands in the enterprise network.
For one thing, more large networksnow rely on some form of automated tape library or automatic tape-loading device rather than standalone drives, says Peterson. Novell Inc. NetWare operating systems, has grown from 15 percent to about 25 percent over the past year, Peterson says. And 46 percent of those with Unix-based servers already have automated tape libraries. Other factors affecting tape use i nclude lower prices and significant increasesin data-transfer rates, capacities, andreliability. These capacities overwhelm the 4.5GB that DAT and other technologies can accommodate.