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Quantum Tape Drives Speak Up: Page 2 of 3

Berens says almost all of the DLTsage functionality will be available to current SDLT 320 and 220 drives that have been upgraded to version 70 of the firmware. About a year from now, Quantum expects to release DLTsage support for its low-end VS80 and VS160 drives.

Tape library vendors Advanced Digital Information Corp. (Nasdaq: ADIC) and Overland Storage Inc. (Nasdaq: OVRL) have promised to support the DLTsage alerting features, as have software vendors Arkeia, CommVault Systems Inc., Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) (NYSE: CA), Legato Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: LGTO), and Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS).

Quantum believes DLTsage will be another arrow in its quiver as it tries to fight back into the midrange market after Linear Tape Open (LTO) leapfrogged it in terms of performance and capacity. Last year, tape drives built using the LTO Ultrium format outshipped drives based on Super DLT by nearly two to one, according to Gartner Inc. (see Gartner: LTO Outsold SDLT in 02). The LTO format is maintained by Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), and Certance LLC (formerly Seagate Removable Storage Solutions).

At the same time, Sony Corp.'s (NYSE: SNE) AIT (Advanced Intelligent Tape) has also given SDLT a run for its money, analysts say.

"LTO clearly has been a competitive product, and so has Sony's AIT," says Bob Amatruda, research manager at IDC for tape and removable storage. He says DLTsage should help Quantum differentiate SDLT, but adds that "it's critical that they support the current installed base."