Celebrating 60 Years of Tape Storage [Infographic]

IBM invented tape-recording media for commercial data storage in 1952.

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

While some people in IT might not be too fond of tape-based storage these days, like, say, EMC COO Pat Gelsinger, it has served the IT industry quite well in its 60-year history.

IBM, the company that invented the technology back in 1952, put together an infographic in honor of the technology’s 60th anniversary.

Here are a few highlights from the infographic:

  • The first tape drive weighed 935 lbs.
  • Tape-based storage capacity has grown by about 2 million times since 1952.
  • 82 percent of all companies in North America are using tape storage systems.
  • More than 400 exabytes of data reside in tape storage systems today.

Check out the full infographic from IBM, below.