Published on TechTarget.com. Read the full article here.
Several factors affected the actual numbers in 2021, according to Krista Macomber, senior analyst at Evaluator Group. First, a patent dispute in 2019 impeded supply of media until it was resolved in the second half of the year. In 2020, pandemic-related labor and supply shortages and transportation delays affected shipments. Then, in 2021, the launch of LTO-9 drove demand and sales.
“LTO-9 devices can only read one generation back, so customers face a choice: continue with devices that shortly will no longer [be newly manufactured] or make the transition and the forward migration of data from an earlier media,” Macomber said. “From this standpoint, you can look at LTO-9 as having a built-in trigger for moving to and purchasing new technology.”