The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT   Cheap DLT
pitched to outpace DAT  Can 320GB for under $1000 revive DLT's
ailing image?  5 ways to prepare your advertising infrastructure
for disaster  Quantum makes its latest bid to keep DLT alive
today, with the launch of a sub-$1000 version targeted directly
at DAT. The DLT-V4 drive is a half-height version of the
SDLT-320 with a Serial-ATA or Ultra160 SCSI interface, and it
stores a nominal 320GB per cartridge, assuming 2:1 compression.
"This is our pitch against DAT - a relatively low-end server can
easily have 200 Gigs [of disk] and DAT struggles with that,"
said Quantum product manager Graham Hunt. DAT currently tops out
at 72GB per cartridge compressed, while rivals such as Exabyte's
VXA-2 and Sony's AIT-2 manage just 160GB.  Hunt claimed that
Quantum, which now makes DAT drives via its acquisition of
Certance, could sell the planned next-generation DAT-160 today,
if it were available: "People want that performance and
capacity," he said. However, he s