FUJIFILM LAUNCHES FUJIFILM SOFTWARE-DEFINED TAPE

FUJIFILM LAUNCHES FUJIFILM SOFTWARE-DEFINED TAPE Software enables user-site management of petabyte-class*1 massive data with ease, incorporating magnetic tape storage to object storage for safe long-term data storage at low cost.

19.05.2020

FUJIFILM Recording Media GmbH, Kleve, Germany, is pleased to announce the launch of FUJIFILM Software-defined Tape software. The new software enables object storage technology for tape-based data storage systems, including petabyte-class*1 data operations. By bringing object storage to tape, FUJIFILM Software-defined Tape enables data centres to improve search, scalability along with security and total cost of ownership while meeting the ever-increasing demand for data storage.

The steady advancement of IoT and ICT, as well as the proliferation of AI-based Big Data analysis, combined with the boom of new regulations on the conservation of data, continues to exponentially increase the data storage needs of organizations. Currently, over 80% of data is cold data -- older and not accessed frequently, but still highly valuable or potentially valuable in the future. Maintaining and protecting this data over the long term is increasingly important.

Today, data is commonly stored in the file storage approach, which involves a hierarchical tree structure. Data processing in a file storage environment slows down as the amount of data increases. By contrast, the object storage approach does not use a tiered file structure, enabling the expansion of data capacity while maintaining performance and processing speed. Metadata*2 can also be added to stored objects to facilitate fast and accurate data searches. As the cloud increasingly adopts object-based models, the object storage market is expected to grow annually by approximately 30% worldwide.

FUJIFILM Software-defined Tape software enables object storage in magnetic tape thanks to the newly-developed magnetic tape recording format OTFormat specifically designed for object data.

Tape technology provides a low-cost solution to long-term storage*3 of petabyte-class data especially because of the high cartridge capacity, scalability, and low energy consumption of tape systems. Storing data on tape also enables an air gap -- off-line/off-site storage that reduces the risk of cyber-attacks and adds an advanced level of security.

The software also offers an S3-compatible API*4, which is widely adopted in object storage, so that tape storage can be combined with hard disk drive (HDD) and solid-state drive (SSD) based systems to optimize tiered data storage. This API also enables a smooth association with the cloud. Software-defined Tape facilitates storage based on data attributes and user needs, giving users the option of storing shared data on a network in the cloud and storing highly-confidential large-capacity cold data on tape.

Software-defined Tape gives new and existing tape storage users the ability to build low-cost storage systems that excel in security, cost and performance. As the worlds top*5 manufacturer of tapes for data storage, Fujifilm will continue to develop and provide high-performance and high-quality media and services that protect the world's data for generations to come, and contribute to solving social issues in our society.

*1 1 petabyte 1,000,000 gigabytes

*2 Accompanying information showing data attributes such as the date, time and location of data creation, person who created the data, and keywords associated to the data.

*3 FUJIFILM plans to further develop the software to enable further capacity expansion and a metadata search function by the end of fiscal year ending March 2021.

*4 The interface format to facilitate data communications with Amazon's cloud storage service, Amazon S3. API stands for Application Programming Interface. The Software-defined Tape uses the S3 Glacier-compatible API when reading data.

*5 Manufacturer share, according to Fujifilm

FUJIFILM Recording Media GmbH, Kleve, Germany, a subsidiary of FUJIFILM Cooperation, Tokyo, Japan, is acting and doing business as the Headquarters for the EMEA region. The leading tape media manufacturer continuously works on improvements to the tape systems core features such as archive life, security against viruses with the data disconnected from the network (creating an air gap ), attractive cost, high data integrity, low environmental footprint and more. Fujifilm has recently contributed to unprecedented innovations on tape systems that meet all future-proof data storage needs: new coating processes such as Nanocubic, combined with Barium Ferrite particle technology, advances in the field of magnetic output, new drive heads developed by IBM and many more.

To go further and more specifically always meet the requirements shared by the users, Fujifilm continues to develop new tape functionalities such as the creation of customized migrations and long-term data archiving managed services to enable users to access their data over time, or a software integrating tape to object storage

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, Tokyo, Japan, brings cutting-edge solutions to a broad range of global industries by leveraging its depth of knowledge and fundamental technologies developed in its relentless pursuit of innovation. Its proprietary core technologies contribute to the various fields including healthcare, graphic systems, highly functional materials, optical devices, digital imaging and document products. These products and services are based on its extensive portfolio of chemical, mechanical, optical, electronic and imaging technologies. For the year ended March 31, 2019, the company had global revenues of $22 billion, at an exchange rate of 111 yen to the dollar. Fujifilm is committed to responsible environmental stewardship and good corporate citizenship. For more information, please visit: www.

LINK:	https://www.fujifilm.eu/uk/news/article/fujifilm-launches-fujifilm-sof...
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