Spectra Logic offers halfway house for VTL users

Spectra Logic is offering a transition option for those waiting to move to LTO-5 tape technology.

The current generation, LTO-4, is the best a company can get right now but with only seven months to wait until the new release which only comes around every three years businesses are generally reluctant to invest now.

Spectra Logic is offering to install the infrastructure ready for the release of LTO-5 in April next year and loan a company an LTO-4 tape device to see them through until the imminent upgrade.

Molly Rector, vice president of product management and marketing at Spectra Logic, told IT PRO: "Customers don't want to get stuck with LTO-4 but we can loan them one until five becomes available."

She added: "Customers in amidst purchase are concerned about things like cost per terabyte and they know the LTL-5 will be dramatically lower so we can put in the capability and just swap the drives when the time comes."

Spectra Logic also plans to release two new capacity options for its Virtual Tape Library (VTL) deduplication offerings in October.

"We had quite a price jump between our nTier500 and nTier700 series and we were quite weak in the four to 10TB area. By bringing out the V160 and V320 we address this gap," Craig Bungay, UK and Ireland sales manager at Spectra Logic, told [i/[IT PTO.

The new VTLs, aimed at small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), will come in 5TB and 12TB at list prices of 29,394 and 52,315 respectively.