QUANTUM DLTtape HANDBOOK
1.3
computing. For storage and backup, this means a shift away from the
high-end products used in mainframe environments (reel-to-reel
tape), and away from low-end, PC-oriented products (4mm DAT),
and toward the mid-range (8mm and half-inch DLTtape systems).
New Storage Strategies
New storage strategies are also driving the market for DLTtape tech-
nology. Two good examples are Storage Area Networks and Network
Attached Storage. A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed,
special-purpose local network that provides a large pool of storage
resources and makes it easily available to the enterprise network.
SANs are usually deployed to support applications that require large
amounts of storage, and to support large, enterprise-level networks.
Most SANs depend on large DLTtape-based libraries to back up disk
storage. SAN revenues are expected to grow from under $4 billion in
1999 to over $20 billion in 2004, according to IDC. (See Figure 1-2.)
Another indicator of the size of this market opportunity for DLTtape
0
20
16
12
8
4
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Source: IDC December 2000
SAN
NAS
Worldwide SAN and NAS Revenues in $ Billions
Figure 1-2 SAN and NAS Disk Shipment Revenues
will continue to grow
quickly as these storage concepts are implemented widely.
