Benchmark on Monday introduced a second-generation ValuSmart Tape 160 storage tape drive and tape media.
Offering 160GB of compressed data capacity and a 16MBps compressed data transfer rate, the ValuSmart Tape 160 delivers twice the capacity of the original ValuSmart Tape 80 storage system, according to Steven Berens, vice president of marketing for Benchmark, based in Boulder, Colo.
Tape 160 is backward-compatible to both the ValuSmart Tape 80 and Benchmark's DLT1 tape.
Working with Sony Corp., Benchmark will deliver a new tape media to market for ValuSmart Tape 160 when the system becomes available in the third quarter of 2002. The new ValuSmart tape media has a finer recording surface, enabling more granular data storage on the tape surface and increased capacity, according to Berens.
Benchmark tape drives are typically OEMed through third-party computer vendors targeting low-cost markets, said Tony Prigmore, a senior analyst with the Enterprise Storage Group Inc., in Milford, Mass.
"Benchmark is playing to cost and performance. And this product fits a specific part of the customer solution set," Prigmore said.