IBM develops tape media capable of 8TB

Could the tape drive avoid it's predicted death and stay on top? Though tapes are still the premier backup method used in large and small businesses alike, optical media is quickly catching up in capacity and availability, with all signs pointing towards tapes being replaced. IBM, however, who have always pushed the idea of tape, have come up with a way to massively increase capacity on tape, by a factor of 15. Using a new process they have found a way to squeeze nearly 800MB of data onto a single square inch of tape, which could potentially boost the size of tape drives as well as the speed at which they can be written to / read from. The new technology, called “LTO”, will feature cartridges up to 8TB in size once it is available in retail markets (assuming it makes it that far). It could also make tapes that hold larger capacity, but are much smaller in size, reducing the space that many companies have to spend in storing arrays of tapes. Interesting.