Andy Walls , CTO of IBM ’ s Flash Systems division , discusses the role of tape in the modern data centre , and the factors that led to this unlikely success story
CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTS
Andy Walls , CTO of IBM ’ s Flash Systems division , discusses the role of tape in the modern data centre , and the factors that led to this unlikely success story
WRITTEN BY : HARRY MENEAR
Andy Walls , CTO of IBM ’ s Flash Systems division
“ It was 1990 , I think . I was in the cafeteria here at IBM in San Jose the first time I heard a VP get up in front of an audience to declare that ' tape is dead '. Well , just look how that turned out ,” laughs Andy Walls , the chief technology officer of IBM ’ s Flash Systems division .
If you asked most people what kind of role they thought reels of tape play in the modern world of public cloud storage and all-flash arrays , they probably couldn ’ t be blamed for guessing that the technology long ago went the same way as the rotary phone or the steam engine ; replaced by newer , faster , more efficient ways of doing things . Finding a tape cartridge in a modern data centre feels like going round to your friend ’ s house to find a LaserDisc drive plugged into their smart TV . “ The very nature of tape - being long and stringy , and therefore having read times that are measured in seconds to minutes has , I think , led people to ask things like ' how can that still be relevant in the digital age ? How in the world can that be used for anything ?” Walls asks .
In spite of everything , however , tape not only survived decades of enthusiastic keynotes by the “ tape is dead ” brigade , continuing to find a place in data centres today , but the radically shifting digital world is actually driving more demand for tape storage than ever before .
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