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Nine major data storage manufacturers have formed an alliance called the Tape Technology Council for the purpose of communicating and supporting the value of tape storage as an important option for data backup.
The Tape Technology Council is comprised of an executive group of individuals within companies who manufacture tape drive, automation, and media products. The Tape Technology Council has a specific set of objectives that concentrate on tape-centric technologies for the data storage market.
The main objectives of the Tape Technology Council:
- Provide education, training and information about tape storage
technologies to users, resellers and industry analysts. - Explain how these tape technologies compare to alternative
storage options. - Increase the awareness of tape formats and their uses.
- Educate end users about growth and market trends for tape
storage technology.
Charter members of the alliance include executives from EMTEC, Fujifilm, IBM, Imation, Maxell, Quantum, Seagate RSS, Sony, and StorageTek.
“Tape technologies are offered in a variety of formats, which are then used in a wide range of data storage applications. The cooperation of the leading technology manufacturers can further educate the public about the features, benefits, and advantages of all tape formats,” explains Len Crann, EMTEC Multimedia’s Senior Vice President. “Providing a forum to resolve issues, increase the market’s awareness and understanding of tape technology and provide a resource of information are the main objectives.”
“Tape technology has been around for 50 years and we expect it to stay another 50 years as continuous improvements are made to the various technology components,” adds Frank Russomanno, Imation’s Vice President and General Manager. “The Tape Technology Council will help end users understand the true benefits of tape storage in the overall hierarchical data storage management scheme.”
“Today, data storage manufacturers realize the need to develop a well-coordinated marketing and technical training strategy that would enable them to respond to data storage end users’ needs,” says Rich Gadomski, Maxell’s Director of Marketing. “When a unified effort is made, the strategy and its implementation allow a more meaningful message to be created to our customers.”
The Tape Technology Council is not governed or biased to any commercial entity or individual. Thus, the collective role of participants of the Tape Technology Council will be to determine its direction, decisions and policies. The Tape Technology Council has appointed Rich Harada of Creative Businesses, Inc. as its Executive Director. Mr Harada will be responsible le for coordinating events, hosting meetings, and communicating with the tape storage industry.
The Tape Technology Council will meet to discuss their objectives, as mentioned above, and will provide the marketplace with on-going communication about their activities. Inquiries from tape storage manufacturers, the press, and interested parties are welcomed and can be sent to Mr. Harada at rharada@creativebusinc.com or at 201-722-9890. The web site, www.tapecouncil.org, will be available soon.
