Spectra Cube tape storage solution for cloud providers: mind-boggling 75,000TB storage library

Spectra Logic has just announced their behemoth Spectra Cube, a modern tape storage library with a frankly insane 75PB of data capacity. 75 petabytes = 75,000 terabytes, or 75,000TB. Mammoth.

Spectra Cube tape storage solution for cloud providers: mind-boggling 75,000TB storage library 914

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The new Spectra Cube will have virtually zero downtime, allowing users to install new tape cartridge drives without powering the Cube off. Spectra Cube also supports Amazon S3 and Amazon S3 Glacier API access, which will be perfect for “storage services by managed service providers and cloud service providers“.

The new Spectra Cube uses Spectra’s own TeraPack tape cartridges that support LTO-6 through LTO-9, with a maximum storage capacity of up to 30PB (30,000TB) uncompressed. However, when compressed, storage capacity skyrockets to 75PB (75,000TB) with the library also supporting 16 partitions, which will be handy for shared or “multi-tenant” environments.

Matt Ninesling, senior director of tape portfolio management at Spectra Logic, said: “As cloud data continues to grow rapidly, the escalating costs of public cloud storage have forced a reckoning, leading to significant interest in moving data to more economical locations including on-prem clouds and hybrid clouds. Compared to typical public cloud options, Spectra Cube solutions can cut the costs of cold storage by half or more, while providing better data control and protection from existential threats like ransomware“.

Spectra Logic explains in its press release: “Leveraging a combination of proven Spectra high-performance transporter technology and TeraPack® magazines, the Spectra Cube library offers the highest tape cartridge exchange performance of any library in its class. The new library also features a convenient front-panel TeraPack Access Port, enabling the selective import or ejection of ten tape cartridges in a single non-disruptive operation, simplifying and reducing tape handling tasks“.

Supported drive interfaces include Fibre Channel and SAS, while optional Ethernet-to-SAS bridges eliminate the need for dedicated storage area network connections, significantly reducing cost and complexity“.