Quantum DLT 2000 Handbook page 48

end server arena, some people mistakenly characterize DLTtape
technology as expensive. That is simply not the case.
One of the great things about the free market is that buyers usually
figure out the best deals pretty quickly. Users want DLTtape technol-
ogy because, as it turns out, in many applications, not only does it
offer superior performance, but it's also the least expensive way to
get the job done.
DLTtape technology isn't the cheapest backup for desktop applica-
tions – yet. That's still 4mm DAT. But once you jump to UNIX
workstations or enterprise networks, it's a whole different story.
For starters, you need to factor in capacity. At 40GB uncom-
pressed, for example, the DLT 8000 drive compares favorably in
price with competitive units of lesser capacity.
The cost equation changes when you factor in performance. If you've
got all night and you only need to backup a few files, slow is fine. But,
if you're trying to back up a large, constantly changing database, and
the only time you can do it is from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m., then speed is
money. For more and more applications, with growing storage needs
and shrinking backup windows, the critical issues are: Can you com-
plete this backup in the available time, with minimum operator
involvement, and provide maximum dependability? With its 110GB
capacity and 11MB/s native transfer rate, the SDLT 220 drive is the
value leader in these increasingly common circumstances.
Comparing media cost is a similar story. If your total system storage
capacity is only one or two GB, smaller capacity, lower-initial-cost
tape cassettes may be fine. As soon as you jump up a class and have 5,
10, 30GB or even terabytes to back up, dollars-per-gigabyte becomes
the meaningful measure of the cost of media. Generally, the larger
your backups are, the more cost-effective it becomes to use DLTtape
4.6 WHY CUSTOMERS WANT DLTtape SYSTEMS