Because scheduled downtime is unacceptable in many enterprise data centers, the StorageTek SL8500 offers the industry-leading ability to grow while operating. The system's RealTime Growth feature means that additional slots and drives - and the robotics to serve them—can be added while the original StorageTek SL8500 modular library system continues to operate. Capacity-on-demand capability further allows you to tap into physical capacity incrementally, so you can grow at your own pace and pay only for the capacity you need. Thus, with the StorageTek SL8500 you can scale to accommodate future growth—adding capacity and performance without disruption.

To meet the high-performance needs of your enterprise data center, each StorageTek SL8500 library is equipped with four or eight robots working in parallel to provide a multithreaded solution. This reduces queuing, especially during peak work periods. As the system scales, each additional StorageTek SL8500 added to the aggregate system comes equipped with more robotics, so the performance can scale to stay ahead of your requirements as they grow. Additionally, with the StorageTek SL8500 modular library system’s unique centerline architecture, drives are kept in the center of the library alleviating robot contention. Robots travel one-third to one-half the distance required by competitive libraries, improving cartridge-to-drive performance. For customers with highvolume import/export requirements, a bulk cartridge access port (CAP) can be added to improve import/export capacity 3.7x and performance by up to 5x.

To help your storage dollars go further, the StorageTek SL8500 modular library system offers the most flexible solution for partitioning, sharing, and managing. Native physical partitioning requires no extra hardware or software. You can create up to 8 partitions in a single library or 16 partitions in a complex; assign them for mainframe and/or open systems use; and address resources in any configuration including noncontiguous resource assignments. With Any Cartridge Any Slot technology, you can seamlessly use the drive types that make sense for your access and storage needs - there is never a requirement to replace slots or to add special drive frames to accommodate different technologies. Choose capacity-centric StorageTek T10000 tape drives or Linear Tape Open (LTO) tape drives.

The StorageTek SL8500 system can be shared across heterogeneous environments, such as Oracle Solaris, Linux, AS/400, mainframe, UNIX, and Windows NT environments, so you can easily match the library configuration to your backup requirements. What’s more, with Oracle’s StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager System, you can use your library in a virtual enterprise mainframe environment.

Because multiple libraries can be consolidated into one unit, StorageTek SL8500 also can save on power and cooling. And since floor space is often at a premium, the StorageTek SL8500 system offers very high density, and its space savings grow as it scales. Each capacity module is only 37.5 inches long but adds another 1,728 slots to the system.