As with all products in the Tapeware range, Freecom is producing both an internal and external drive to the new LTO-2 standard. Both can store up to 400GB per tape at a standard compression of 2:1. Building on the great success of the LTO Ultrium 1 standard, the three members of the LTO Ultrium consortium, HP, IBM and Seagate, have now developed the specifications for the new Gen-2 LTO standard. In the same way as LTO Gen-1, the succeeding standard is also designed as an open standard, which ensures wide use from the very beginning. Implementation in existing networks and backup structures is also possible without any problem due to the 100% reverse compatibility with LTO-1.

Freecom will offer two new LTO Ultrium 2 drives from January 2003 - the 460i as an internal variant and the 460es as the external variant. Both drives offer extremely high data transmission rates of up to 30 MB/sec or 60 MB/sec for standard compressed data. This allows the backup of approx. 400 GB within around 2 hours. This impressive speed in creating back-ups reduces the server load during copying to an absolute minimum. In order to increase the reliability of the backup the drive checks during copying that the data is being written correctly to the LTO tape. Errors in the backup during writing are completely excluded due to the “Read-while-write” function. In the event of a physical fault with a tape during or after copying, all data can be recovered 100%, even in the case of damage of up to 32 mm in length; this also applies if a complete copied track is lost. The restoration of the complete server after a crash can be carried out quickly and easily by means of the “one-button disaster recovery” function of both LTO-2 drives.

Both new LTO-2 drives originate from the continued co-operation between Freecom and HP. "HP was first to market with a commercially available Generation 2 Ultrium tape drive, providing customers with unprecedented performance, capacity, reliability and value in data protection," stated Adam Thew, director of HP's Nearline Storage OEM business. “HP and Freecom are building on a rich history of collaboration by offering the Generation 2 Ultrium tape drive as part of Freecom’s portfolio of data storage solutions.” Freecom will offer the LTO-Ultrium-2 drive both as a built-in version and an external solution (both in full-height design). The drives can be implemented in most network environments, and support all leading backup standards, while the connection is made using the SCSI-LVD interface. Freecom offers a 3-year express exchange warranty on all LTO-2 drives. The solution also includes the back-up software Yosemite TapeWare, TapeAlert software, an LTO Ultrium cartridge, a cleaning cassette and a manual on CD.

Both drives will be available from the end of February 2003, with a recommended retail price from 6,199 Euro incl. VAT.