Data storage companies, including Spectra Logic, Symply, and Quantum, have all announced updates to their tape library product portfolios to support the latest generation of Linear Tape-Open Ultrium (LTO), LTO-10.

However, as reported by Blocks and Files, despite specifications previously released by the LTO organization stating LTO-10 should offer 36TB raw capacity and 90TB compressed at 2:5:1 capacity, the LTO-10 offerings that have thus far been announced only support up to 30TB of raw capacity, meaning its compressed capacity is 75TB.

Additionally, the transfer speed offered by LTO-10 is 400Mbps raw, the same as the prior generation, LTO-9, with Blocks and Files reporting that in response to requests for comments, the LTO organization said that LTO-10 does not offer backward compatibility, and is still working on capacity improvements which will be announced “in due course.”

“The LTO-10 technology was prioritized for higher capacity. At 400Mbps, native throughput tape LTO-10 is still one of the fastest ways to archive large amounts of data, and with compression, data throughput can reach up to 1,000MBps on SAS and up to 1,200MBps on FC,” the organization told Blocks and Files.

The Linear Tape-Open Ultrium format is an open tape format developed by HPE, IBM, and Quantum in the 1990s. To date, each new generation has seen an increase in transfer speed over the previous however, the raw and compressed capacity of LTO-9 was downgraded from 24TB and 60TB, to 18TB and 45TB, respectively, prior to its 2021 rollout.

Storage companies unveil their LTO-10 offerings

On May 28, Spectra Logic announced support for LTO-10 tape technology across its portfolio of tape libraries, including Spectra TFinity, TFinity ExaScale, TFinity Plus, T950, T950V, T680, T380, T200, Spectra Cube, and Spectra Stack models.

Offering the aforementioned 30TB of native capacity and 400Mbps of transfer speed per cartridge, Spectra said LTO-10 provides a 66 percent increased capacity per cartridge over LTO-9, with supported interfaces including 32GB Fiber Channel and 12GB SAS (Serial-Attached SCSI) – a protocol for point-to-point serial transmissions between computers and storage devices, such as tape drives.

Spectra said its SAS-equipped models enable significant additional savings on end-to-end connectivity between servers and tape drives located within data center distances up to 10,000 sqm (107,639 sq ft.)

“LTO has proven itself to be one of the most sustainable, extensible, and cost-effective technologies in IT,” said Nathan Thompson, CEO and founder of Spectra Logic. “As AI accelerates the scale of unstructured data retention, LTO-10 arrives exactly when the world needs it most.”

That same week, Symply also unveiled its LTO-10 offerings, claiming to be the first in the world to offer ethernet and thunderbolt LTO-10 solutions.

The upgraded portfolio includes SymplyPRO Ethernet, which offers desktop and rackmount standalone LTO drives with 10GB ethernet connectivity; SymplyPRO Thunderbolt, offering desktop and rackmount standalone LTO drives with thunderbolt and SAS connectivity; and SymplyPRO XTL 40 and 80, mid-range and enterprise modular tape libraries featuring SAS, Fiber Channel, ethernet, and thunderbolt interfaces.

SymplyPRO LTO-10 products will begin shipping in mid-June 2025 and will be priced between $11,995 and $26,995.

Finally, Quantum announced support for LTO-10 across full-height tape drives in its Scalar tape libraries, Scalar i7 RAPTOR, Scalar i6, and Scalar i6000 systems.

The company said its new Scalar i7 RAPTOR is capable of delivering up to 60PB of LTO-10 native capacity in a single rack, the highest storage density of any tape library on the market.

The offering can also be integrated with Quantum StorNext NAS and SAN file workflows, ActiveScale object storage, and DXi deduplicated backup to deliver scalable, efficient cold storage across the data lifecycle, Bruno Hald, VP and GM of secondary storage at Quantum, said.

Quantum is currently accepting orders for its LTO-10 solutions, including Scalar i7 Raptor, Scalar i6, Scalar i6000, and within ActiveScale object storage, and expects shipments to begin later this quarter.

Both Symply and Quantum are also offering 30TB per LTO-10 cartridge, with up to 75TB of compressed capacity.