Overview

The IBM TotalStorage™ Ultrium Tape Autoloader 3581 Model L23 offers high capacity, performance, and technology for the midrange open systems environment. It incorporates a single Linear Tape-Open (LTO) IBM TotalStorage Ultrium 2 Tape Drive which can more than double tape drive performance over the generation 1 LTO Ultrium Tape Drive (Ultrium 1), up to 35 MB/sec native data transfer rate (70 MB/sec with 2:1 compression). In addition, with the use of the new IBM TotalStorage LTO Ultrium 200 GB Data Cartridge, the Ultrium 2 Tape Drive has the capability of writing twice as much data, up to 200 GB native capacity (400 GB with 2:1 compression). The IBM Ultrium 2 Tape Drive can read and write original LTO Ultrium Data Cartridges at original Ultrium 1 capacities and with an improved performance of up to 20 MB/sec native data transfer rate (40 MB/sec with 2:1 compression). The 3581 Model L23 comes with an LVD Ultra160 SCSI attachment for connection to a wide spectrum of open systems servers. An optional bar code reader feature (with optional part number 18P9210) is also available to assist with unattended backup and recovery operation.

Other Ultrium 2 Tape Drive enhancements:

• Digital speed matching — is designed to help adjust the drive data rate to the host reducing backhitching and improve throughput performance
• Power management — to help reduce power consumption
• Channel calibration — designed to help customize each read/write data channel for optimum performance
• Separate writing of multiple filemarks — designed to help improve performance when writing multiple files
• Larger internal buffer — the internal buffer size is 64 MB, double the buffer size of the Ultrium 1 drives
• Faster drive speeds — faster data access time, reduced rewind time, reduced cartridge load time, and faster cartridge fill time compared to the Ultrium 1 drives

The Ultrium Tape Autoloader 3581 Model L23 is an external stand-alone or rack-mountable (part number 18P9209) unit, similar to previous models of the 3581 autoloader that incorporates a single IBM LTO Ultrium tape drive. The Ultrium Tape Autoloader 3581 Model L23 capacity is seven tape cartridges, providing a physical media capacity of up to 1.4 TB (2.8 TB with 2:1 compression) data storage per unit.