Volume shipments of AIT-5 drives to OEM library makers such as Spectra Logic, QualStar and Cybernetics, are scheduled for this fall, when Sony will also incorporate the drives into its own libraries. At 400GB, AIT-5 doubles the capacity of the previous generation of AIT-4 drives.
But Sony’s AIT business suffered last year when backwards compatibility issues slowed the sales of AIT-4. Further up-market, the company’s Super-AIT drives have failed to make much impression on a half-inch format sector now dominated by the LTO format. For the 8mm sector in which AIT-5 operates, growth over the next few years is likely to be flat, according to tape researcher Freeman Reports.
Sony told Computer Business Review that it is however sticking to its AIT guns, and is developing the next AIT-6 generation of drives. Analyst Bob Abraham at Freeman Reports said: Sony takes a very long term view of the market. It doesn’t act impulsively.
