IBM announced what it claims is the world’s first tape library solution offering affordable enterprise-class tape drive based encryption capabilities for midrange corporations and enterprise workgroups.
The IBM System Storage TS3400 Tape Library brings IBM System Storage TS1120 Tape Drive performance and encryption capabilities to a broader range of tape customers.
The TS3400 is designed to provide a small-sized, affordable tape library that offers encryption technology to secure corporate data and protect customer privacy. This functionality can help midsized companies and enterprise branch offices address rapidly expanding requirements for protecting sensitive information, IBM said.
This announcement expands on IBM’s tape drive-based encryption capabilities. In September IBM introduced drive-based encryption technology on new models of the IBM System Storage TS1120 Tape Drives along with a range of services that delivered enterprise-class solutions for securing consumer and corporate data privacy.
Cindy Grossman, vice-president of IBM tape storage systems, said for the first time it is making drive based encryption capabilities on an enterprise class tape drive available in a tape library solution suitable for a wide range of midsized companies.
As well as providing enterprise-class encryption capabilities in the drives, avoiding a drain on precious host resources, IBM offers a Java Encryption Key Manager to provide flexible implementation across many environments, such as AIX, i5/OS, Linux, HP, Sun and Windows.