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Iomega has announced an exciting new addition to the exchangeable media market. The new REV drive promises to make backup and system recovery faster, easier and less costly. Pitched as an alternative to the linear-access technology of tape drives, the innovative system uses hard disk technology packaged in removable cartridges (35GB of uncompressed storage capacity per 2.5in removable disk). The disk is mounted inside a 10x77x75mm cartridge and yields a 25MB/s transfer rate - eight times faster than DDS-4 tape. Tapes can be rewritten more than a million times (estimated) and are engineered to provide a shelf life of around 30 years, according to Iomega. The drive uses the same error correction system (UDF 1.02) as optical drives because a variety of operating systems contain native UDF 1.02 readers, which helps make the REV highly compatible. The drive is available as an external model with a USB 2.0 interface (£223 with one disk) or as an internal ATAPI version (£212 with one disk). If the included 35GB cartridge is not enough, extra 35GB disks can be purchased for £34.99 each or £110 for a four pack. REV autoloaders, which will support multiple disks per drive unit, are currently planned for introduction in the second half of 2004. FireWire, SCSI and SATA models are also planned for introduction in the second half of this year.
Pros: Faster and cheaper than tape; various model types
Cons: Uses older version of UDF error correction system
Release: Iomega Corporation (NYSE: IOM), a global leader in data storage, has began shipping the exciting new Iomega REV 35GB/90GB drive (2.6:1 compression ratio), bringing proven hard disk reliability and performance to the world of removable storage. As an alternative to tape and other backup and archiving solutions, Iomega's new REV drive and 35GB removable REV disks deliver state-of-the-art server and desktop backup, while also providing businesses and home users with the ideal portable storage device for sharing and archiving large files.
'The new Iomega REV drive is a unique and versatile product that changes the rules of data backup, combining superior reliability and performance with breakthrough pricing,' said Werner Heid, president and CEO of Iomega Corporation. 'Backing up to tape has always involved compromises because tape is a relatively fragile, slow and expensive linear-access technology. Iomega's new REV drive makes backup and system or file recovery tasks faster, easier and less costly. Small business owners and IT managers will save immediately in terms of labour, hardware costs and system downtime.'
The Iomega REV drive offers the removability of tape with the speed and ease of use of a hard disk. REV disks transfer data up to eight times faster than tape**, are smaller than a deck of playing cards (10x77x75 mm), and can be rewritten more than a million times (estimated). With a maximum sustained transfer rate of 25MB/s, and using drag and drop random access technology, REV users can copy and restore individual files in seconds.
With patent-pending advanced two-stage error correction and patent-pending automatic head cleaning, Iomega REV technology achieves an error rate three orders of magnitude better than that of today's sealed hard disks. The REV drive design keeps the sensitive read/write heads and electronics sealed in the REV drive, and for increased reliability, a patent-pending air filtration system creates a virtual 'clean room' environment inside the removable disk. Iomega REV disks are engineered to provide an extremely durable and reliable shelf life, estimated to exceed 30 years.
Easy to use and less than half the price of most competing tape products, Iomega's REV drive outperforms more expensive tape alternatives like DDS-4, DAT-72, VXA, AIT-1, and DLT VS80. Gartner estimates this market to be around 1 million units in 2004 (Gartner, 2003 Tape Drives Forecast Report, June 3, 2003).
The new REV drive also appeals to a broader market of individuals and businesses that have avoided tape backup products because they are slow, expensive, and difficult to use. The market for REV backup in small and medium-sized businesses is sizeable, with 7.9 million small businesses (under 100 employees) and 93,000 mid-size firms (100 to 999 employees) in the U.S. (IDC estimate). Medical, legal, financial and other such businesses faced with regulatory compliance requirements for data archiving, and the millions of home office households confronting a growing deluge of data, further extend the market for internal and external REV drives as an ideal backup, archiving, and portable storage solution.
'Iomega's REV drive is a compelling alternative for customers who have traditionally used tape for backup and data protection on their entry level servers as well as high-end desktops,' said Robert Amatruda, research manager at IDC. 'REV's performance, easy-of-use and attractive price make it a good fit for small businesses that value high-capacity removable storage.'
Major PC OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) are currently evaluating REV drives for use in server and business desktop systems, products that often ship without high-capacity backup due to the high cost of tape. Currently, both the external USB 2.0 version and the internal ATAPI version of the Iomega REV drive are available at the Web sites of major PC OEMs and other channel partners, as well as at www.iomega.com.
German manufacturer BDT GmbH & Co. K.G., a world leader in tape autoloader products, has already announced (November 2003) a letter of intent whereby BDT is exploring the possibility of developing autoloader products using Iomega REV technology. BDT currently supplies about 70 per cent of the low-end autoloader market through its OEM relationships with leading computer companies, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Quantum and ADIC. Iomega and BDT envision a range of breakthrough autoloader products using REV technology, from full height 5.25in. single drive products with 280GB of native storage capacity to multi-drive 4U configurations with over 4TB of native storage.
Included with every Iomega REV drive is Iomega Automatic Backup Pro software, which provides frequent file-level backup to a REV drive. Once configured, the 'no-touch' software automatically backs up specified files (including multiple revisions); keeps multiple backup sets on different destination drives; excludes user-selected files by file type, and performs scheduled backups. Powerful professional-level features include 2.6:1 compression and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) file encryption, along with support for Windows server operating systems.
Symantec's Norton Ghost for REV Drive software is also included for full-system disaster recovery, letting users capture an exact image of the computer's main hard drive partition, including all data files, system files, settings and installed software. If disaster strikes, the disk image can be easily copied back to the replacement drive from the REV disk.
Iomega is also working with leading storage software vendors to certify compatibility between their solutions and the new Iomega REV drive. Compatibility will enable joint customers to have a wide variety of software solutions for essential storage requirements, such as data backup and business continuity.
The initial REV products herald a new generation of exciting backup technologies from Iomega. Later in 2004 Iomega expects to release Boot and Run software, which provides home and business users with prompt disaster recovery. If a primary hard disk fails, users can simply 'Boot and Run' directly from an Iomega REV drive, giving them access to all the files, applications and functionality of their primary internal hard drive, until the failed drive can be replaced. Supported operating systems include Microsoft's Windows XP Home and Professional; Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition; and Windows 2000 Server/Professional/Advanced Server (SP3 and SP4).
Links:
REV 35GB/90GB Web site
BIOS, Apr 15, 04 | Print | Send | Comments (0)
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