Automated Tape Libraries and Virtual Tape Support › Tape Robotics

Tape Robotics

Mainframe tape processing has evolved from labor-intensive manual tape processing into a simplified process, using Automated Tape Libraries (ATL) and Virtual Tape (VT) systems. This eliminates the hassles of retrieving reel tapes to mount on manual drives.

Using tape robotics, you can now quietly and efficiently perform mount and unmount requests for high capacity cartridges. Virtual Tape systems have further increased efficiency by eliminating the need to write to physical tapes at all. Instead, tape data is written to volumes in a disk cache. These virtual volumes are later consolidated and stacked on physical tape volumes and exported from the virtual tape system for disaster recovery or other purposes. CA 1 supports each new phase of tape technology whenever one is introduced, supporting the latest tape media types for both robotics and virtual tape systems.

Automated Tape Libraries(ATL) and Virtual Tape systems are now the standard in most installation situations. ATLs offer the following benefits:

• Faster mount times
• Minimization of tape handling, reducing the possibility of operator errors
• Easier tracking of tape inventory

Virtual tape provides an extension to the benefits of ATLs by providing these additional benefits:

• Improved use of physical tape cartridges
• Instantaneous dismount and rewind processing

These benefits drive the acceptance of robotics and virtual tape systems as the industry standard for efficient tape processing.

Note: The terms ATL, library and robot are used interchangeably The meaning of these terms are all intended to be the same.