The LTO Ultrium Roadmap ensures a stable, future-proof path for LTO tape technology, giving users confidence that their investment will keep up with advancing data storage needs. Since its debut in 2000, LTO has evolved significantly, now reaching 18TB native capacity with LTO-9, underscoring its commitment to continuous innovation and scalability.
LTO Ultrium tape is a magnetic tape data storage technology developed in the late 1990s as part of the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) consortium. This consortium consisted of three technology giants: Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM, and Quantum Corporation. At the time, data storage was dominated by proprietary tape formats that created vendor lock-in and limited choices for businesses. The LTO consortium aimed to create an open-standard, highly scalable format that would foster competition and drive innovation, while providing organisations with a future-proof storage medium.
In 2000, the first generation of LTO Ultrium tape was launched, offering a storage capacity of 100 GB and a data transfer rate of 20 MB/s (uncompressed). Each successive generation saw substantial improvements in capacity, speed, and reliability, making LTO a preferred choice for long-term data storage, archival, and disaster recovery strategies. The LTO roadmap, still active today, demonstrates the consortium's commitment to future developments, with current generations supporting storage capacities exceeding 18 TB and transfer rates reaching 400 MB/s (uncompressed).
The Future of Tape Technology
The LTO roadmap currently includes LTO-9, with upcoming versions promising a substantial leap in capacity and performance, potentially outperforming traditional spinning disk drives.
Backwards Compatibility
A core benefit of the LTO Ultrium roadmap is its focus on backwards compatibility. Each new LTO generation can read two previous versions and write to one, a feature upheld since LTO's inception and still true today.
Performance Capabilities
LTO technology offers impressive speed for data backup. A single LTO-9 drive can natively back up 18TB in an hour. In optimal conditions with consistent streaming and data compression, it can achieve speeds of 6TB per hour, running at 1000MB/s.
Encryption for Security
Since LTO-4, all LTO drives offer 256-bit AES-GCM encryption. By performing compression before encryption, LTO technology maximizes storage capacity while maintaining high backup performance.
WORM Functionality
LTO’s Write Once, Read Many (WORM) feature, introduced from LTO-3 onward, allows critical data to be stored as immutable backups, satisfying regulatory compliance requirements for standards like Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, and SEC Rule 17-a-4(f). WORM cartridges have tamper-proof features and distinct packaging, and are fully readable but cannot be modified once written.
Roadmap Development History
Developed by HP, IBM, and Certance (now Quantum), LTO Ultrium technology was designed as a robust and cost-effective solution in the tape storage landscape. It is an “open format,” meaning products and media are compatible across multiple vendors, offering users flexibility and choice.
Widely Adopted Technology
LTO Ultrium tape is the world’s most widely used tape backup technology. The current LTO-9 format provides 18TB native capacity and offers a WORM option for secure, unmodifiable storage. LTO-9 cartridges also support partitioning, enabling systems to manage different sections of the tape separately.
We supply LTO Ultrium tape from leading brands, with next-day delivery and bulk purchase discounts available. Brands include:
In addition to LTO media, we also provide printed barcode labels compatible with popular tape library models. Simply share your model and desired sequence, and we’ll handle the rest.
The LTO Ultrium Roadmap provides a clear path for future advancements, giving purchasers confidence in the longevity and ongoing innovation of LTO tape technology. Since the launch of the first LTO-1 drive in 2000, LTO has made significant strides, with LTO-9 now offering an impressive 18TB of native storage. This roadmap not only demonstrates the technology’s evolution but also assures buyers that their investment in LTO will remain protected well into the future.