There are two types of virtual tape library – those that are truly tapeless and entirely disk-based, and those that use a disk front-end to prep files for storage on tape, Peters says. De-duplication goes hand-in-hand with VTLs, and it’s technology that vendors including IBM and EMC have been revisiting aggressively recently.
“(Virtual tape) keeps data online longer,” says Peters. “(And) deduplication has wider benefits … you can either save money, or you could move that storage up a tier in the hierarchy.”
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