FEATURE
As the growth in digital data storage continues to move at an unrelenting rate , there is increasing concern over the environmental impact modern infrastructure is having . In particular Environmental Social and Governance ( ESG ) considerations have become a major topic for organisations faced with the challenge of ensuring data centres are more sustainable without impacting that all important performance and availability .
To balance these increasingly contradictory objectives , IT teams are turning to tape storage . Used for decades as a reliable and affordable solution , its environmental and sustainability credentials are now also providing a greener alternative to diskbased solutions .
Among the key use cases for tape is longterm storage . As more data is retained for compliance or business reasons , the problem is that this information may not be accessed again for years , if ever . Using hard disks storage solutions geared towards the constant availability of data is far from efficient , but the challenge is to replace these systems with storage architecture that enables effective management of data over longer life cycles for a wider variety of workloads – at a higher level of sustainability .
A powerful argument
Historically , one of the leading benefits of tape storage has always been its lower acquisition costs , and per gigabyte , for instance , the cost of tape hardware is about half that of disk-based solutions . Add to that the lower power consumption and heat generation levels of tape storage and the arguments in favour of switching to tape across a wider range of use cases become even more compelling .
In practical terms , tape libraries consume very little to no energy unless data is being read or written , with almost no heat dissipation or cooling requirements as a result . This can deliver significant savings in electricity used for data centre operation , particularly given the
Eric Bassier , Senior Director of Products , Quantum www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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