The IBM 3590 tape system was recently replaced by an IBM 7720 tape subsystem. This project took place because of the large number of issues with old technology and the increasing costs of maintenance fees.

Chuck reviews the IBM 3590 one last time.

The new equipment arrived early in October 2010 and was installed within the month. The migration of the old 3590 tape to the new 7720 started immediately after that installation, and migration was completed in the middle of December. Physical power to the 3590 was turned off the first week of January 2011, and then the unit was dissembled. Data is synchronized to an identical 7720 located in the Mandan Data Center just five minutes after data is written in Bismarck.

Benefits

• The 7720 consumes only 20 square feet of space versus the old 3590 which used 224 square feet.
• The amount of space consumed by tapes is equivalent to 14 racks full of servers.
• There are notable improvements in batch processing time with some batch jobs finishing hours earlier.
• The time to do backups has decreased by 1.5 hours.
• There is no longer a need to physically run Disaster Recovery (DR) tapes to an off-site location.
• The cost savings on maintenance for the 3590 over a three years span will compensate for 75% of the new machine.