So I heard a rumor that Oracle has k--led VSM, but I see no mention of it anywhere. Likewise T1000D drives. Are the SL8500 and SL4000 libraries dead? Or is the business being sold? Don't the cloud guys use tape - maybe they use IBM tape?
23 replies (most recent on top)
Tape will never die as it is infinite.
I have been in this business for 40 years (I don't work for Oracle) and from the first day that I started all I heard was that "tape is dead" and yet here we are 40 years later and our global data centers are still filled with tape drives and libraries. And unless someone invents a viable alternative for long-term data retention, tape will be around for a real long time. We are a large financial company, we are required to retain massive amounts of data for years (some indefinitely), and we are prohibited from moving to the cloud by governmental regulations. Yeah, tape will be around long after I'm gone.
"If the data is on tape then it should be purged deleted sh-- canned."
It's a sign of the times.
"If the data is on tape then it should be purged deleted sh-- canned."
I've seen stupid things posted on this board, but statement is in its own league.
"That is what they said about serial ports."
I believe that servers still have those. It's how you connect via the console.
Only sl4000 is on production with the rest of tape products in maintaining support as per oracle website. With support getting worse, as young graduates are filling the gap made by layoffs and moves away , the future of tape in oracle is easy to predict.
That is what they said about serial ports.
If the data is on tape then it should be purged deleted sh-- canned.
Tape is the perfect business for PE, with stable and reliable cash flow. If the 3 stooges had brains would have sold it off a long time ago. But the again, they would’ve just p-ss-d the money away of share buybacks.
"But it's not a growth market, it will slowly shrink and lose relevance."
Given the explosive amount of data growth, I doubt that it will lose relevance. It won't have explosive growth, but it will be around for a long time.
Tape is like Oracle Database, Sun, engineered systems, etc. Large companies will continue to buy it for years because it's easier than modernizing. But it's not a growth market, it will slowly shrink and lose relevance.
A quick looksie shows that HPE and Quantum still sell LTO drives.
Tape will probably around longer than you will.
"Most ppl do long term offsite backups in Amazon Glacier"
You said it. No doubt that most "individuals" to backups to Glacier. Large groups of "ppl" like financial, insurance, government, and large cloud institutions, however, have backup requirements for decades into the future and for a lot of reasons, may not want to trust or be allowed to trust Glacier. Will hard drives or Blu-Ray disks survive that long?
Most ppl do long term offsite backups in Amazon Glacier.
IBM is the only manufacturer of LTO drives. Tape is dead dead dead.
Yup, you don't do long term, offsite backups on disk. The LTO standard is still used in datacenters and the current version is LTO-8. IIRC, HP, IBM and Quantum makes LTO drives, and Oracle makes tape libraries that use these tape drives.
Tape is alive and well in so many "classic" datacenters. So yes, it will be "supported" for many years to come. We can disagree on what "support" means and I'd probably be afraid to look behind the curtains at Oracle Support too, but spare parts and diagnostics are kind of important in tape libraries . Anyone suggesting that because "tape is dead" that ORCL can just walk away from fielded equipment doesn't understand the IT industry or contractual agreements. Good luck.
"Tape is dead, you guys still use 8 tracks too? LOL!!!"
You may be surprised - although not always a primary goto device, tape sells very well. Indeed with cloud offerings, as well as a need for long term data retention, there is still a strong play - albeit not with Oracle I guess! And a strong argument can be made for putting data on your own tape versus shoving it in the cloud
Big red shall never sell acquired businesses, it's their intellectual property, they rather prefer to k--l it.
VSM will no longer have development activity. Support of the product will be like tape. Library development still occurs on the SL4000, all other libraries are in support mode as well. The software components that interface with those aforementioned hardware components are in support mode as well. Support contracts will run out and Oracle will have its “de-emphasis” of the old STK product set completed.
That's a good one - let's support all the products like we do Sun? You mean we pretend to have qualified engineers still working in support?? Most of those teams have been decimated and barely enough people left to have a softball team. There's NO support being done, it's simply reading the old MOS docs to the customers who are still naive enough to call in for help.
Tape is dead, you guys still use 8 tracks too? LOL!!!
Why couldn't it be like other Sun products where they are no longer being sold but still being supported for many years to come? Lots of tape installations out there, as you know.