Last week, Spectra Logic brought together close to 20 users from the large tape community for hands-on product demonstrations, in-depth technology discussions and classic mile-high networking. Many of these users have historically gathered for the annual Large Tape User’s Group Conference in Colorado.

The event enabled the attendees to hear how others are solving data storage challenges and obtain a first-hand look at the future of storage. This year’s topic, “Scaling the Performance Wall,” focused on the need for overall performance when implementing storage solutions for massive data environments.

Attendees arriving at Spectra Logic’s Boulder headquarters.

Attendees heard from two Spectra end users who shared their experiences managing large tape storage architectures, with notable highlights of working with Spectra. Davin Chan, HPC technical director, CSRA at NASA Ames Research Center, talked about the organization’s decade-long relationship with Spectra – from installing their first tape library to recovering data from water-damaged tapes with Spectra’s help. This talk gave attendees a well-rounded view of Spectra’s commitment to customer service. JD Westerman, computer scientist, HPC systems at Los Alamos National Laboratory, delivered a colorful overview of his Spectra experience, which sparked a lively discussion around Spectra support. Spectra Logic’s SpectraGuard Worldwide Support is a common denominator among our most satisfied library customers and often exceeds expectations, offering 24×7 global technical support with robust functionalities and an attentive approach to every interaction.

Roberto Bigliani, Spectra vice president of support services, followed with a comprehensive overview of Spectra’s Assisted Self-Maintenance program (ASM), an industry exclusive support offering that dramatically minimizes unexpected downtime. ASM provides customers with a stock of select parts on site for immediate replacement, allowing users to complete repairs in minutes with the remote guidance of support personnel. End-users attend three days of intense hands-on training to learn how to repair libraries. One attendee attested to Spectra’s offering, “The best vendor training I’ve ever attended. There was no PowerPoint preaching. Very well done.”

Throughout the event, the audience participated in engaging conversation about the future of tape and Spectra’s role in the industry. They learned that Spectra partners with major software providers in a variety of tape-friendly verticals to ensure its libraries are easily integrated into a variety of environments. Spectra also maintains tight-knit relationships with the tape drive manufacturers and media providers, keeping everyone on the same page and working diligently to serve the storage community.

According to the Tape Storage Council‘s 2018 “Tape Raises the Bar for Higher Capacity, Reliability, and Security” memo, the tape storage market is expected to gain significant momentum as tape is being deployed effectively to manage extreme data growth for next-generation applications that are driving enormous storage demands, such as Big Data, cloud storage services, entertainment, Hyperscale computing, and surveillance. The supporting infrastructure for Big Data, for example, is expected to grow from $34 billionto $92 billion by 2026.

Spectra plans to host its third annual Large Tape Conference in 2019 to continue to foster education, networking and advancements in this long-standing industry. We are seeking input on topics of interest. Please email [email protected] with your suggestions.

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