Linear Tape Open Research Articles

The Mechanisms for Business Ecosystem Members to Capture Part of a Business Ecosystem’s Joint Created Value

Research into business ecosystems has rarely examined the success of business ecosystem members. Business ecosystem leaders tend to focus on their own success rather than carefully monitoring the success of business ecosystem members, and each member must find a mechanism to capture part of the business ecosystem’s joint created value. This study examines the mechanisms by which business ecosystem members capture part of a business ecosystem’s joint created value in the cases of linear tape open (LTO) ecosystems and how these mechanisms contribute to the sustainability of a business ecosystem. A case study was conducted with a review of both the author’s experience with Sony and third-party resources. We confirm the results by panel data analysis. We identified three mechanisms. First, a business ecosystem member can establish a new business ecosystem on their own through newly created complementary innovation. Essentially, a business ecosystem member can become a business ecosystem leader in a new business ecosystem. Second, a business ecosystem member gains market shares from technology leadership, the experience of mass production, and collaboration with the business ecosystem leader. Third, a business ecosystem member who creates complementary innovations can obtain patent royalties. These mechanisms help business ecosystem members stay within business ecosystems and contribute to its success and sustainability.

The benefits of migrating content to the cloud: How mass tape-to-cloud migration services helped the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame preserve music history

When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opened the doors on its library and archives in 2012, magnetic backup tape storage was the right solution for managing large files like the ones for its induction ceremonies, original concerts, education series and programmes. Over time, however, many of those tapes became less accessible due to hardware and software failures and onsite storage limitations. In 2018, after the Rock Hall evaluated its underlying technical infrastructure and needs, it decided to do what a growing number of organisations have been doing: migrate to the cloud. This case study examines how mass tape-to-cloud migration services helped the Rock Hall move data stored on Linear Tape-Open (LTO) tape storage to the cloud, where it can be preserved for years to come while being instantly accessible at any time and from anywhere.

Ru Underlayer Elimination for CoPt-Based Sputtered Tape With Perpendicular Recording Toward 330 TB per Cartridge Product

A sputtered tape that uses a CoPt-based granular recording layer was developed for practical application in the next generation of large-capacity magnetic tapes. 1) First, disk media were prepared by depositing films onto glass substrates using an inline disk sputter machine in which the substrates were stationary facing the target, and the ability to control the crystalline orientation, the magnetic isolation, and the magnetic anisotropy of the recording layer, which are the important functions of the underlayer, was investigated. As a result, it was found that the medium with Co60Cr40 (45 nm)/Co60Cr40-15 vol.% TiO2 (5 nm) as the underlayer has the same properties as the medium with the Ru underlayer. 2) Next, a sputtered magnetic tape with Co60Cr40 (25 nm)/Co60Cr40-SiO2 (25 nm) as the underlayer deposited on a polymer film was prepared using a roll-to-roll sputtering machine. The ability to control the crystalline orientation and magnetic isolation of the magnetic recording layer was evaluated, and from the results it was found that a magnetic film with a granular structure was formed on the sputtered magnetic tape in which the $c$ -axis of the magnetic crystal grains is oriented in the direction perpendicular to the film and the magnetic crystal grains are separated by the SiO2 amorphous phase. 3) Furthermore, when the recording properties of the sputtered magnetic tape with a Co60Cr40 (25 nm)/Co60Cr40-SiO2 (25 nm) underlayer were compared with those of a magnetic tape for a linear tape-open (LTO) format eighth-generation tape cartridge (LTO 8), it was confirmed that the broadband signal-to-noise ratio of the sputtered tape with a Co60Cr40/Co60Cr40-SiO2 underlayer is 4.2 dB higher than that of the LTO 8 tape at a linear density of 300 kfci.

The Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) Archive’s analogue-to-digital preservation pipeline: A case study examining the migration workflow of 2-inch Quadruplex to MXF AS-02

This article discusses the HBO Archive’s Endangered Formats Project, a preservation initiative that started in 2017. The purpose of this project was to migrate some of HBO’s oldest original programming off obsolete media formats. The first format targeted for migration was the 2-inch Quadruplex videotape. These tapes were digitised and transferred to file as MXF AS-02 (Material Exchange Format Application Specification) bundles. These preservation packages were ingested into a media asset management system in addition to being backed up to seventh-generation LTO (linear tape-open) tapes.

The strategy of collaborative monopoly with use of the scheme of standardisation for storage product

It is important to standardise a new product in order to expand a market. However, it is not easy to profit from a standardised product because its specification is open to competitors. This paper examines the way in which IBM, HP and Quantum (former Seagate) were able to succeed in profiting from the business of linear tape open (LTO) and in jointly monopolising the market in spite of the fact that LTO was standardised. A key factor for their success is a strategy of collaborative monopoly with use of the scheme of standardisation. This strategy consists of two strategic activities. First activity is to carry out the open type 'razor and blade' business model by utilising the scheme of standardisation in order to profit from the consumables such as storage media. Second activity is to realise antecedent development of both technology and business for the next generation of the media.

Migrating to a virtual environment

This paper provides a deep dive into the pros and cons of local, cloud, solid-state and linear tape-open storage solutions. It opens with John McKenna’s account of the YES Network’s digital transformation, and is followed by Jason Marshall’s summary of modular to virtual technology migration. This paper details ratios on high-performance broadcast data systems, as well as power consumption and solution trade-offs. This paper aims to gain the reader’s confidence in virtualising a media asset system as well as converting linear systems to packet-based media technologies including transcoding, Active Archive and future SMPTE 2110 solutions.

Development of Barium Ferrite Tape With a High Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Thermal Stability

We developed an advanced particulate magnetic tape using fine barium ferrite (BaFe) particles with a high broadband signal-to-noise ratio (BB-SNR) and thermal stability. The newly developed tape achieved a BB-SNR 4 dB higher than that of the commercially available BaFe tape used for linear tape-open generation 7 tape-storage systems, at a linear density of 350 kilo flux changes per inch. Furthermore, the thermal decay rate, which is an index of thermal stability, of this tape was sufficiently high, 0.029 dB/decade, although the tape is composed of fine particles. This value is acceptable for long-term archiving over approximately 30 years. This paper describes the characteristics of the new tape particles and medium, which are expected to be employed in the future high-capacity linear tape systems.

Moore’s law realities for recording systems and memory storage components: HDD, tape, NAND, and optical

This paper describes trends in the storage technologies associated with Linear Tape Open (LTO) Tape cartridges, hard disk drives (HDD), and NAND Flash based storage devices including solid-state drives (SSD). This technology discussion centers on the relationship between cost/bit and bit density and, specifically on how the Moore’s Law perception that areal density doubling and cost/bit halving every two years is no longer being achieved for storage based components. This observation and a Moore’s Law Discussion are demonstrated with data from 9-year storage technology trends, assembled from publically available industry reporting sources.

Archival Processing of Born Digital Records in the Archives of TV Slovenia

The paper describes the technical processing of born digital records in the Archives of the Television Slovenija. The author has analysed the process of ingesting digital documents into the system for cataloguing and long-term preservation in LTO (Linear Tape Open) library. The purpose was to determine what improvements should be accepted into the new system and to find out specific weaknesses, which should be eliminated for a more successful work and better cataloguing of the materials and, consequently, more efficient retrieval of the records.

Long-Term Stability of Magnetic Tape for Data Storage Under an Accelerated Condition

The long-term stability of magnetic particulate tapes (Linear Tape Open (LTO) and a more modern barium ferrite data cartridge tape) was investigated using samples that had been stored under an accelerated condition for one year. Analysis by a vibrating sample magnetometer, surface roughness analyzer, and friction tester were used to ascertain the magnetic and tribological properties, whereas gel permeation chromatography was employed to analyze the stability of organic materials, such as binder polymers. Dry conditions (60 °C) were employed to accelerate the storage term by about ten times. The magnetic and tribological performances remained stable in all samples. The degradation of binder polymer was investigated. Expansion of the storage period of the samples stored under the above conditions by ten times resulted in the same degradation trends as those of the LTO samples that had been aged in an office environment. The acceleration ratio of 10 was confirmed to be usable for Digital Linear Tape III, LTO, and other tapes. The same procedure was applied to a more modern barium ferrite tape. The degradation of the barium ferrite tape was equal to or less than that of the LTO tape. Thus, the one year acceleration test showed that the stability of LTO and the barium ferrite tape could be estimated to be more than ten years.

Development of advanced barium ferrite tape media

We developed an advanced particulate magnetic tape using fine barium ferrite (BaFe) particles for magnetic-tape storage systems. The new tape showed a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that was 3.5dB higher than that of the commercially available BaFe tape used for the Linear Tape Open generation 6 tape-storage system, at a linear density of 300kfci measured with a giant magnetoresistive head with a reader width of 0.45µm. Such significant increase in SNR was achieved by reducing the magnetic particle volume from 1950 to 1350nm3, while maintaining a sufficiently high thermal stability, improving the perpendicular squareness ratio from 0.66 to 0.83, and improving the surface roughness from 2.5 to 2.0nm when measured by atomic force microscopy and from 2.4 to 0.9nm when measured by optical interferometry. This paper describes the characteristics of the new BaFe particles and media, which are expected to be employed for future high-capacity linear-tape systems.

MDS Product Code Performance Estimations Under Header CRC Check Failures and Missing Syncs

Data storage systems that use removable media heavily rely on strong concatenated error correction coding (ECC) architectures in order to guarantee very low target data loss rates. Particularly, tape drives and optical disk drives (e.g., CD, DVD, and BD) employ powerful ECC schemes based on a concatenation of an outer maximum distance separable (MDS) code called C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> and an inner MDS code called C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sub> in order to achieve this performance. In addition to data, these storage systems employ header and synchronization appends (i.e., sync patterns) for appropriate allocation of user information on the physical storage medium. Since headers and sync patterns are subject to channel errors as well, accurately retrieved data may be regarded useless if an error occurs in either of these fields. In order to predict very low target C <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> failure rates (which is typically on the order of 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-17</sup> ) in the presence of header and synchronization errors, we propose a semianalytical method in this paper that incorporates the effects of the header and synchronization errors in the output error rate expressions. We use our proposed model with linear tape open (LTO) data examples to both show the effectiveness of the estimation results and draw some interesting conclusions.

Motion Control Experiments for Identification of Actuator Dynamics

Estimating a dynamic model of a servo actuator often has to be done on the basis of noisy closed-loop experiments in which feedback is controlling the servo actuator. The presence of feedback complicates the estimation procedure due to strong correlation of control signals with disturbances present on the servo system. This paper shows how information on the feedback controller can be used to equalize the effects of disturbances on the control signals and estimate low order models of the actuator dynamics. The approach uniquely relies on a fractional representation of the feedback controller and a coupled least squares optimization problem to estimate an actuator model. Motion control experiments of a servo actuator in a Linear Tape Open drive operating under feedback will be used to illustrate the effectiveness of the procedure and will show the possibility to estimate low order servo actuator models.

Adaptive Regulation of Time Varying Disturbances in a Tape Storage System

Archival demands for digital tape storage systems require smaller spacing between data tracks on the magnetic tape to allow for more data storage on a single cartridge. Increasing track density while maintaining track following provides a challenge for the servo control of the tape drive. In particular, interchangeable tape cartridges and time-varying tape reel diameters during operation cause variable disturbances during servo control. In this paper we show how a tape servo control algorithm can be regulated to handle changes in disturbance dynamics during servo operation of the tape drive. The approach is based on adaptive regulation by exploiting a Youla-Kucera parameterization of the servo controller and an explicit minimization of the Position Error Signal (PES) during servo operation in real-time. Theoretical results on the stability of the feedback system and real-time application results on an Linear Tape-Open (LTO) drive are included in the paper. The result show a significant reduction of the variance of the PES over different tape cartridges and a constant PES variance during a complete reel-in operation of the tape drive.

A Study of Thin Coating Wear in High Data Density Tape Heads

Abstract This paper reports on an investigation of the wear of very thin (20–50 nm) Cr2O3 hard coatings, deposited on the linear tape open (LTO) data tape heads. The differential wear of the magnetic poles on the head and subsequent pole tip recession (PTR) leading to an increase in magnetic spacing is the major factor limiting the performance of high data density data tape heads. In order to reduce or eliminate PTR, very thin Cr2O3 hard coatings were employed to reduce PTR. The coatings were deposited on the LTO heads surface using unbalanced magnetron sputtering deposition techniques. Atomic force microscopy was used to analyze the surface topography of the coated head surface. Wear measurement was carried out by the means X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy combined with argon ion depth profiling. By these means, the very small reduction in coating thickness during the wear and hence the wear rate could be accurately determined. Wear tests were conducted in modified HP LTO Ultrium Generation 1 tape drives, and it is shown that wear rates of below 5.6×10−21m3/N⋅m could be measured. Nano indentation and scratch tests were employed to study the wear of the head materials and coated heads, which indicated that pole materials suffer the greatest wear under the same wear test conditions. The coatings on the pole areas have the lowest anti-abrasive wear resistance. Compared to the uncoated heads, the PTR of LTO heads were significant reduced by Cr2O3 coatings.

Cyclic Equalization and Channel Identification for Magnetic Tape Recording Systems Using the Data Set Separator

This paper addresses the problems of equalizer design and channel identification for read channels implemented in linear tape open (LTO) tape-drive systems. The techniques presented use the readback waveform of the data set separator (DSS), a special pattern that is recorded at specific locations on tape as part of the LTO format. The concept of cyclic equalization is employed for a DSS-based equalizer design. The approach is extended to channel identification for extracting the dibit response of the magnetic recording channel from the DSS readback waveform. Both techniques are implemented with low complexity, making them attractive for practical realizations. Actual readback signals captured on commercial LTO tape-drive systems are used to demonstrate the efficiency of the described techniques

Microtribological studies of two-phase Al 2O 3–TiC ceramic at low contact pressure

The two-phase Al 2O 3–TiC ceramic (AlTiC) has many applications. One of the most common uses of AlTiC is for data recording heads where it is used as a bearing surface to support the magnetic sensing elements. This is one of the examples where the ceramic can be used in MEMS. Using Linear Tape Open (LTO) drive and metal particle (MP) tape media as the experimental platform; the wear of the AlTiC at very low loads and for very smooth surfaces has been studied. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron Spectroscopy (AES) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) were employed to analyse the AlTiC surface changes during wear at a variety of environmental conditions. Under all experimental conditions, the results showed the TiC phase of AlTiC to have been oxidized to form a surface layer. This gave rise to classical oxidational wear of that phase; with the delamination of the TiO 2 to form pullouts on the AlTiC surface and subsequent three-body abrasive wear particles were produced. The rate of oxidation of the TiC and hence the rate of production of the three-body wear particles increases with atmospheric water vapour content. In the experimental system chosen for this investigation, this results in an increase in differential wear, and hence pole tip recession of the magnetic metal poles of the recording heads. Pole tip recession was shown to correlate with increase in oxidation rate and also increase with atmospheric water vapour content. The wear of the Al 2O 3 phase was probably due to micro-adhesive wear with a wear rate much lower than that of the TiC phase.

A study of three-body particle generation and subsequent pole tip recession in linear tape recording heads

The Pole Tip Recession (PTR) and transferred material (stain) are major causes of magnetic spacing losses in magnetic recording system. The recorded signal amplitude is only independent of the data being read if the spacing is zero. Thus, the level and more specifically the variation in head media spacing with device life must be a minimum to maximise signal output and minimised errors. It was the purpose of this research to isolate and identify the mechanisms responsible for pole tip recession using the Linear Tape Open format as an experimental platform, but the results have implications for any head where the tape-bearing surface is Al 2O 3/TiC (AlTiC). All experiments were conducted within a matrix of pressure and humidity, which encompassed the system operating extremes. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to analyse the surface topography of the heads and monitor the development of PTR after 100, 1000 and 5000 passes of tape. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was employed to analyse the chemical changes on the surface of the heads after 5000 passes of tape and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was used to identify the chemical changes that occurred at the head surfaces. Optical Microscopy was employed to identify the head surface changes before and after wear. Environment was found to have a significant influence on the head/tape interface. Head wear and PTR were highest at high temperature and humidity. Wear between the head and tape was found to transform the surface layers on the TiC grains in the tape-bearing surface to TiO 2. This process results in the production of TiO 2 fragments that become trapped in the recessed pole tip region, acting as three-body abrasive particles. The presence of Ti on the surface of head thin film region confirmed that the three-body particles originated from the head AlTiC ceramic. The TiO 2 (thickness and possible areal coverage) increased with the water content increase, wear of head increased in the high water content condition.

A study on the formation and structure of LTO head stains

Linear Tape Open (LTO) metal particles tapes with of identical formulation as Travan5 tape were cycled against LTO heads using the Linear Tape Open (LTO) system as the experimental platform. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to analyse the surface topography of the heads while Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to analyse the chemical changes on the surface of the worn heads and tapes. Ar + etching was employed with XPS to analysis tape and stain on the worn heads. Optical Microscopy was used to observe the head surface changes. The results were different to those observed in work done on earlier systems with higher contact pressures (for example Travan5). Since the tape formulation was essentially the same, the differences could be explained in terms of the lower head/tape contact pressures in the LTO system with the subsequent lower contact temperatures. Since the formation of stain is a chemical process, it is postulated that a certain threshold contact temperature is necessary for substantive stain formation. Assuming this to be true, the effects of ambient water vapour concentration are also explained. The nature of the stain has been confirmed by surface analysis. This has shown the stain produced in this system consists of chemically un-changed passivated metal particles plus binder material, thus confirming our earlier model of stain formation.

Contact pressure effects on pole tip recession and head stain in linear digital tape systems

Linear Tape Open (LTO) and Travan5 heads were tested against the exactly similar formulation metal particles tape loaded into appropriate cartridges at a range of controlled environmental conditions. These tape cartridges were produced specifically for this study by the Imation Corp. Optical Microscopy was used to identify the head stains and debris distribution. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to analyse the changes in surface topography of the heads and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was employed to analyse the chemical changes on the surface of the heads after up to 5000 passes of tapes. Conventional Fe based stain was seen to form on the heads of each tape format for all conditions with the exception of Travan5 heads at 40 °C and 80% relative humidity (RH) which were covered with much thicker and more extensive polymer based stain. The Travan5 heads showed a much greater propensity to stain than LTO heads. Pole tip recession (PTR) of the LTO heads was lower than Travan5 heads after cycling for the same distance and in the same environment condition. Higher temperature and higher humidity lead to higher PTR in each system. The contact pressure between the LTO head and tape is much lower than the Travan5 system (around one-third) and this the major factor for the reduced stains and lesser PTR value in the LTO system. The reduced contact pressure not only reduces the number of the three-body particles production, but also reduces chemical effects responsible for PTR and stain. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to identify the chemical changes that occurred at the media surface. This showed that in all areas of the tape, the amount of detected Fe had slightly increased, whilst the N signal (an indicator of polymeric binder) had decreased. No significant tape wear occurred in either the LTO or Travan5 systems. The roughness (RMS measured by AFM) of the tape did not change significantly after cycling in either system, with the exception of Travan5 tapes cycled at the 40 °C, 80% RH which showed an increase. The more tape debris present on the Travan5 heads comparing with LTO heads. The results indicate conclusively that reduced contact pressure is responsible for the reduction in both stain and PTR.