Tested to extremes. The crucial difference between HP Ultrium and its competitors

HP’s specifications go well beyond requirements for the LTO logo. Logo tests do not measure product quality because this would prevent a truly open standard where customers are able to choose the widest selection of products based on other factors such as cost, value and performance, as well as compatibility. The Compliance Verification process for Ultrium media which confers Ultrium logo status does not require in-depth environmental or dynamic testing. HP brand qualification includes this, and more.

HP media customers are many and varied. The reason why HP invests so much in extensive reliability testing is because changes in platform and external conditions can have a profound effect on tape error rate. Increased error rates jeopardise back ups, and back up disruption jeopardises business continuity. In order to protect customers from the impact of these variations, HP scrutinises every single batch of HP media.

Besides, media manufacture is a complex business; suppliers are always changing processes, geographic locations and components to improve their efficiency. These changes often have an adverse impact on the product. Even something as innocuous as a leaking factory roof can affect the purity of the ingredients. Only a testing programme as deep and as wide as HP’s can ensure the best possible experience for customers. HP invests millions of $ in this area so customers do not need to.

It’s false to assume that all tapes are the same or even that a single brand of tape will always perform in the same way. HP is always vigilant.

For example, would a cartridge created in the heat of an Australian summer survive a New York winter or Hong Kong monsoon? Tape rarely encounters such extremes. But it’s not impossible that it might.

Cartridges are being moved on and offline, on and offsite all the time these days. Will they perform to the spec no matter how many times they’re dropped and knocked on their many trips between the vault and the data centre? However many times a tape is loaded in and out of the drive, will it remain stable and reliable for the whole of its life? In a busy and dynamic 24x7 e-commerce network, after hundreds of backup/restore cycles, can data still be accurately retrieved from the tape?