Research indicates that up to 400 million terabytes of data are created every single day.
Until relatively recently, users were often happy to delete data when they felt it was no longer needed, however, we live in a very different digital society today as data tends to live on indefinitely.
Once an innovative insight, “Data is the new oil” is now just a commonplace saying – we all know how valuable data can be. But to extract greater value from data, you need to store it. To keep it, you need space, security, and money, so organisations across every industry are looking for the best ways to store their data without costing the earth – either financially or environmentally.
Indefinite data retention periods and the lack of data deletion
The idea of big data has evolved rapidly, from the data pools of the early ’00s to the data lakes and then data oceans of today. These are huge, multi-form, petabyte-sized interconnected networks. One zettabyte equals one million petabytes and it is estimated that the total installed enterprise base has grown from one zettabyte in 2016 to 5.2ZB in 2022 with as many as 36ZB by 2030.
At the same time, the amount of data we delete continues to decline. One reason is that the more data we have, the more insights we can extract, particularly when AI demands constant data uploads to train its responses. More prosaically, there is always a fear that data, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, could turn out to be useful someday so let’s hang on to it just in case.
Taken together, these trends ask important questions about how best to store large volumes of data. In the average data centre, one third of the data is labelled ‘frozen’, meaning it has not been accessed in weeks and in some cases years. Yet, despite being out of use, it still requires appropriate storage.
Keeping data safe and immutable long term
As frozen data grows in size, it needs secure storage in a format that maintains its integrity. Currently, the popular methods of data storage are on enterprise HDDs and SSDs, which are specifically built for 100% online duty cycles and have limited encryption and immutability characteristics.
As a result, they are rarely deployed for more than five years so the data must be re-mastered every time it is migrated. Such devices are also liable to fail over time and do not take kindly to time switched off and sitting in the closet. Therefore, they provide restricted offline air gap protection from data loss or data interference.
A sustainable and affordable alternative
That’s why more and more IT managers are adopting the attractive option of tape storage. Tape provides a long-term 30-year lifespan with “offline airgap” data security and guaranteed Write Once Read Many (WORM) immutability. Tape also boasts much lower upfront costs than SSDs or HDDs and, although tape requires limited remastering, it takes place over a longer timescale at considerably lower costs.
When it comes to sustainability and frozen data storage, tape again offers significant advantages over SSD or HDD because the power consumption required by tape is much lower. The majority of tape
cartridges will rarely be mounted in the tape drive itself, but will remain offline instead. This could be in a dedicated robotic library slot or off-premises; either way, the cartridge is drawing minimal power. Cooling is another factor that can cost a lot in terms of money and energy for other storage platforms, however, tape storage systems need little cooling, saving money and making the system more sustainable over time.
This explains why more and more companies are getting in on the act. Over the past few years, tape storage demand from the world’s biggest hyperscalers has started to overtake that of traditional enterprise accounts. Hyperscalers often lead the industry when it comes to new storage trends so if it is working for them, it may well be the right choice for you too.
Start by talking to storage professionals who can provide independent guidance on which storage system is best for you. Analyse your existing estate and estimate your data storage requirements for the coming years. This will act as a roadmap for where you need to be and what part tape might play. The important part is to get the balance between tape and other methods right.
Ultimately, the amount of data being produced and stored will continue to grow exponentially and, with it, the need for low-cost, secure, long-term storage systems grows. Traditional SSD and HDD platforms are suitable for many storage needs, but, when it comes to cost and sustainability over longer timeframes, tape cannot be beaten.
About the Author
Laura Loredo is HPE Worldwide Product Management Manager, the LTO Program. The LTO Program was formed in 1997, and three companies — Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM and Quantum — jointly oversee the development and roadmap of Linear Tape-Open (LTO) technology. The program achieves its objective to promote open linear tape solutions by facilitating technology development, enforcing ongoing compliance verification standards, and by supporting the LTO and Ultrium brands through marketing activities. In providing open format specifications to simplify the complex array of tape storage options, LTO technology allows users to have multiple sources of product and media with an open nature – enabling compatibility between different vendors’ offerings. The LTO Ultrium format is a powerful, scalable, adaptable open tape format developed and is continuously enhanced to help address the growing demands of data protection.
