FUJIFILM INSIGHTS BLOG

Executive Q&A with David Cerf, Chief Data Evangelist and Head of U.S. Operations, GRAU DATA

Q1: Welcome, David, to this Fujifilm Insights Blog – Executive Q&A! Please tell us a bit about GRAU DATA and your current role as Chief Data Evangelist and Head of U.S. Operations and International Sales.

Ans: Thanks for having me, Rich! At GRAU DATA, we’re addressing one of today’s most critical challenges: managing the explosive growth of unstructured data. Our mission is to tackle these challenges and help organizations prepare for the exponential data growth expected over the next decade.

In my role, I wear two hats. As Chief Data Evangelist, I focus on educating the market about the transformative potential of metadata in modern data management. Metadata is often the key to unlocking insights from complex datasets. As Head of U.S. Operations and International Sales, I’m dedicated to expanding the global reach of our solutions, like MetadataHub, which empowers organizations to unlock the full value of their unstructured data by capturing its content and context.

Q2: We have been hearing a lot about MetadataHub. Can you describe that product for us?

Ans: MetadataHub is a game-changer for organizations drowning in unstructured data. Whether coming from sensors, microscopes, or satellites, the challenge isn’t just storing all that unstructured data—it’s figuring out how to use it. That’s where MetadataHub shines.

It connects directly to your storage systems—like SMB, NFS, and S3—and automatically extracts all types of metadata, including the critical embedded metadata that tells you the content and context of your files. MetadataHub can uniquely open files, including application-specific files, to extract the content and contextual value needed to derive insights for analytics, AI, and training LLMs. Embedded metadata is often overlooked or not easily accessible, but it provides the crucial content and context that make unstructured data truly actionable.

Think of MetadataHub as a dynamic, searchable repository that acts as a smart proxy for your unstructured data, eliminating the need to constantly recall full files from storage. It integrates seamlessly with modern tools like Snowflake, Databricks, Jupyter Notebooks, KNIME, and LLMs, automating data provisioning to feed data pipelines. By delivering rich metadata without moving the file, MetadataHub accelerates decision-making, streamlines workflows, and maximizes the value of your data. For industries like life sciences, HPC, or manufacturing—where petabytes of research data or billions of sensor readings are the norm—MetadataHub isn’t just helpful; it’s transformative.

Q3: Can you elaborate on some of the key benefits for end users by leveraging embedded metadata and MetadataHub specifically?

Ans: Leveraging embedded metadata with MetadataHub unlocks a wide range of benefits for end users. By extracting critical insights directly from files, MetadataHub provides the content and context organizations need to optimize operations and enhance decision-making. For organizations struggling with scattered storage systems or siloed data, this means reduced costs, better data quality, and improved accessibility.

The most immediate impact users see is in data preparation time. By automating metadata extraction, we’ve managed to reduce data preparation time by up to 90%. This automation means researchers and IT administrators can focus on applying their expertise rather than spending countless hours organizing and preparing data. They get faster results and can access the needed data without waiting for manual processing.

Resource efficiency is another crucial benefit. MetadataHub delivers metadata directly to applications without moving entire files, dramatically reducing infrastructure demands. Since the extracted insights are typically 1,000 times smaller than the original file, we see up to 30% reduction in network, CPU/GPU, and storage loads.

This efficiency translates directly into cost savings. Our system enables intelligent storage decisions based on a file’s actual content and business value, rather than simple metrics like age or access history. When combined with data movers and orchestration tools, MetadataHub automates workflows and facilitates smarter data migration. Organizations can move data from expensive storage to archives based on true business value, reducing storage costs by up to 30%.

The impact on data accessibility is equally significant. MetadataHub breaks down traditional data silos that often plague large organizations. Users can seamlessly discover and access data across the entire organization, regardless of where it’s stored. This global accessibility ensures that valuable insights don’t remain trapped in isolated systems.

Perhaps most importantly for today’s organizations, MetadataHub makes data AI-ready. It transforms raw data into actionable insights that can be immediately used in analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning workflows. These insights are formatted and structured to work seamlessly with the tools and applications that modern data scientists and analysts rely on daily.

Q4: Can you describe your typical target customers for MetadataHub?

Ans: Our ideal customers are organizations managing massive volumes of unstructured data. This includes scientific and research institutions such as aerospace agencies, pharmaceutical companies, life sciences organizations, national labs, universities, high-performance computing facilities, and manufacturers. These organizations often generate large datasets from specialized equipment like electron microscopes, genomic sequencers, and satellite imaging systems.

MetadataHub is also an excellent fit for organizations with extensive data archives, particularly those utilizing tape archives or deep storage systems. It enables these customers to capture critical insights before files are stored cost-effectively, ensuring that data remains actionable even in long-term storage.

Additionally, MetadataHub is invaluable for any organization with unstructured data seeking to enhance data quality for AI and large language model (LLM) training, making their data more usable and impactful for advanced analytics and machine learning workflows.

Q5: You just mentioned the benefit of getting the data “AI-ready.” Can you explain how that works?
Ans: The journey to reliable AI begins with data quality. When organizations work with poor-quality data, they inevitably face unreliable AI outputs, slower workflows, and missed opportunities. We’ve found that the key to solving this challenge lies in embedded metadata – those crucial details hidden within files that provide essential context and content for AI applications.

Making unstructured data truly AI-ready requires addressing three fundamental challenges. First, there’s the complexity of managing diverse file types. Unstructured data comes in countless formats, each with its own unique structure and complications that make standardization challenging. Second, organizations must handle increasingly massive data volumes. We’re talking about processing millions or even billions of files efficiently – a scale that demands robust automation.

The third and most critical challenge involves extracting embedded metadata effectively. Modern scientific instruments and sensors generate files that are rich with metadata, often containing hundreds or thousands of vital elements. These include experimental conditions, equipment settings, and measurement parameters – all crucial details that determine the quality and usability of the data for AI applications.

MetadataHub tackles these challenges through automated processing at scale. Our system harmonizes both content and context, making data immediately actionable regardless of its source or format. We place special emphasis on data provenance – tracking the complete history of data from its origin through every transformation. This comprehensive tracking builds the trust, repeatability, and accountability that are absolutely essential for successful AI and machine learning applications.

Q6: I’ve heard you talk about relieving “performance anxiety” when it comes to deep storage such as data tape libraries. Can you tell us about that benefit in more detail?

Ans: Tape archives often come with “performance anxiety” due to the latency in recalling files. However, you don’t need the entire file in most cases—just the insights within it.

MetadataHub solves this by acting as a proxy, capturing critical metadata, and making it instantly accessible. This ensures that all content and context are readily available for AI workflows or applications without the need to recall files from the archive unless absolutely necessary.

This approach creates an “active archive,” where critical insights are captured immediately, enabling files to move to archival storage sooner. This ensures organizations can save costs without losing quick access to the necessary data. These insights remain accessible, enabling organizations to migrate files off expensive performance storage sooner, saving costs while ensuring seamless access to the necessary data, regardless of where the file resides.

For example, the Zuse Institute manages 1 PB of high-performance SSD storage and over 200 PB on tape. By using MetadataHub, they capture critical metadata from files on performance storage, providing instant access to insights without recalling the original files. Once the metadata is captured, Zuse migrates the files to secure, low-cost archival solutions—enterprise tape—while retaining immediate access to actionable metadata.

Q7: You also have a tool included in MetadataHub that you refer to as your “Data Landscape Report.” What exactly does that report do, and how does it benefit end users?

Ans: Great question! The Data Landscape Report is about solving one of the biggest challenges our customers face—”Where is my data?” It provides a clear, 360-degree view of all your unstructured data, no matter where it’s stored—on-premises, in the cloud, or across vendor storage systems like SMB, NFS, and S3.

We hear this from organizations of all sizes. They’ve got storage scattered between on-site systems and the cloud, but there’s no single view to show where everything is or how it’s being used. That’s where the Data Landscape Report comes in—it consolidates all that information into one place.

Now, this isn’t just about tracking file counts or sizes. The report delivers actionable insights, such as file types, data age, usage patterns, and storage efficiency. These insights empower organizations to optimize their data management in several ways. Teams can intelligently move data to the most cost-effective storage tiers, ensuring efficient resource utilization. The report’s comprehensive view makes data migrations straightforward and seamless, eliminating the guesswork typically involved in these projects. Additionally, it strengthens compliance and governance efforts by providing clear visibility into data provenance and history.

What sets the Data Landscape Report apart is its speed—customers can see results within hours, making it an invaluable tool for quickly gaining clarity over their data landscape.

Q8: Finally, when you are not slaving away for GRAU DATA, what do you enjoy doing in your free time these days?

Ans: Oregon is my year-round playground. In the summer, I’m often mountain biking through scenic trails or adventure riding on rugged backroads. When winter comes, I swap the wheels for a snowboard and hit the slopes. Exploring Oregon’s landscapes keeps me energized and inspires the creativity and problem-solving approach I bring to GRAU DATA, helping us tackle some of the most complex data challenges out there.

Thank you, David, for your time. We wish you continued success with GRAU DATA and MetadataHub!

For more information on MetadataHub, visit GRAU DATA’s website or http://Moremetadata.com

Additional resources:
How Data’s DNA Drives Innovation: Transform how your organization discovers, analyzes, and innovates.

2025: The Year Metadata Transforms Data Management

Executive Q & A with Bruce Gilpin, CEO of Versity

Welcome, Bruce, to this Fujifilm Insights Blog Executive Q & A!

1. Please tell us about Versity’s archival storage products and your role and responsibility as CEO.

Answer:

One of the really fun and at the same time painful things about starting your own company is that you and your co-founders will have every job at some point. At the beginning, Harriet Coverston was our CTO and lead developer and I did everything else including finance, accounting, marketing, HR, product management, sales, and business development. Over the past 13 years the company has grown tremendously and now we have a fully staffed management team of very high caliber professionals so my job these days is focused more on product strategy, company strategy, and managing my team.

In terms of product, Versity is laser focused on the large archive data management market segment. Fortunately for us, this is the part of the archival storage market that is still growing and with the dawn of AI, our HPC business is absolutely booming. Scale Out Archive Manager (ScoutAM) is our main product and this is a comprehensive modern super scale solution for mass storage and large archives. We are rapidly consolidating the market that was traditionally spread more or less equally among IBM’s HPSS and Spectrum Archive products, HPE’s DMF product, Quantum’s archive manager, and Oracle’s OHSM & SAM-QFS product. Until Versity came along, there was never a clear leader in the market for various reasons including lack of product differentiation and high switching costs.

2. Versity has always delivered archival storage solutions to typical HPC customers like the National Labs and Department of Defense. Can you share a bit about the evolving customer profile you are now seeing in your customer base?

Answer:

Yes, we are seeing strong growth in our U.S. Government HPC business and in addition we have branched out and gained a lot of traction within the military and civilian government sectors of U.S. allies such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and France. These customers value air gapped data for security and they need modern solutions that can be supported within classified enclaves. With our global partners such as Dell Technologies, we are able to meet the stringent requirements of this customer base. Outside of AI and traditional HPC, we are seeing growth in media and entertainment, genomics, and banking and finance industries. Recently we won our first high frequency trading contract and this niche is likely to grow. People love to say that it’s a gloomy time in the archival data world or the tape storage business. We don’t see that at all. Our business has growth over 30% every single year like clockwork and recently that growth has accelerated. My conclusion is that at the high end of the market where the amount of data is over 100PB, the growth is accelerating. The issue for our competitors is that very few products function well or really have a solid value proposition at those capacity levels where things tend to get very complex and performance sensitive.

3. Among your expanding customer base, Versity is recognized for its scalability, performance, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness. What else is driving demand among your prospects and target customers?

Answer:

Environmental sustainability is becoming a critical factor. Our solutions, like ScoutAM, are designed to optimize power consumption and overall storage expenses, aligning with organizations’ goals to reduce their carbon footprint and power consumption. AI systems are power hungry as we all know so people are looking very hard at ways to balance the power intensive part of the data center with something that is dramatically more efficient. We can deliver that with the combination of ScoutAM and the new class of rack modular tape libraries with field replaceable components.

4. It’s probably not that long ago that your customers had the challenge of managing archives in the tens or hundreds of petabytes range. But I understand you are now seeing multiple exabyte requirements these days; what is driving the increased storage demand?

Answer:

We used to hear about a one exabyte bid or requirement once every year or two and we would be really excited to work on a project of that scale. Today we are working on six different projects that are over one exabyte each and one of them is a greenfield build out for 10 exabytes of capacity. It has really been interesting to see this acceleration take place, and the timing is absolutely perfect for Versity since we gambled with our product plan four years ago and decided to put all of our resources into creating a super scalable solution aimed at the highest capacity users. It was not obvious at the time that this would pay off for us, but it put us in the leadership position at just the right moment. What is driving this is AI and the exponentially increasing capability of various sensors to capture data. We have much more sophisticated sensors proliferating on new sensor platforms – on the ground, in the air, in the ocean, and in space. They all generate data that needs to be effectively managed and secured in a stable long-term repository.

5. You mentioned AI as a key driver of increasing storage demand among others. But everyone talks about high-performance storage like SSDs associated with AI models. What is the archival demand that is being driven by AI?

Answer:

Flash is used in the scratch tier to power AI clusters and it is super effective. Companies like Vast and Weka have done a great job advancing the state of the art for scratch storage – meaning the storage that is closest to the CPU’s and GPU’s. But nobody has enough money to store the source data on flash so we see smaller 1-10 PB flash systems paired with 100-1,000 PB archival systems and in this configuration the archival data is the persistent copy. Usually, we are keeping a persistent copy of the original source data from sensors and sometimes we are keeping copies of checkpoints or the output of the AI cluster whether that is a visualization or some other analysis.

Q6: Tape systems have always been a standard component that Versity software manages. How are the new tape library systems like Spectra’s Cube or IBM’s Diamondback changing the tape value proposition among your customer base compared to the previous generations of tape libraries?

Answer:

These new rack modular systems are very interesting to our user base. I think it is common knowledge at this point that all of the hyper scalers have shifted totally to this model so clearly there are benefits including field serviceable robotics. The rack modular option is not a fit for every use case by any stretch but for very large sites that do a lot of random reads, it has a pretty compelling value proposition, and it opens up the tape market for sites that need simplicity and scalability. Each rack can hold around 30PB of LTO-9 media so these make very useful building blocks. Versity offers a per rack pricing model to help sites keep all of the cost elements within a modular framework and our S3 to tape capability is also a great fit for sites that want the modular libraries but still want to maintain the advantages of feeding the libraries with an independent vendor solution. This allows them to mix and match library vendors or maintain a dual supplier relationship to balance risk and optimize pricing on very large systems.

Q7: Finally, when you are not slaving away for Versity, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Answer:

Well, I’m really lucky to live in a part of the world where there is a vibrant outdoor sports community. I am hooked on a newer winter sport called snow kiting and in the summer, I like to kite foil, run, hike, and mountain bike. I have been known to disappear on a meditation retreat once in a while. My two children are in college now, so I have a lot of freedom and I am enjoying every second of it!

Thanks for your time Bruce, and we wish you a lot of success with Versity’s innovative archival solutions!

Check out Versity’s website for more info!

To listen to the audio version of this Q & A, CLICK here.

Executive Q & A with
Nelson Nahum,
CEO of Geyser Data

Q1: Welcome Nelson to this Fujifilm Insights Blog Executive Q & A! Please tell us about Geyser Data’s new tape-as-a-service model and your role and responsibility as CEO.

Ans: Thank you for having me, Rich. Let me begin with my story on why we created Geyser Data. In a world now forever changed by AI, extracting value from data has become easier than ever before. At the same time the rate of creation of new data is explosive, so we need to look at tape as a great solution for certain storage workloads. Tape is low-cost media, it requires minimal power and it can be protected from cybersecurity threats by simply air gapping it. However, historically tape lost ground to hard disks because tape libraries were difficult to manage and required a lot of capex to buy them. At Geyser Data, this is what we solve, people can use tape-as-a service, without the need to buy and manage tape libraries. And it can be used with the simplicity of S3 APIs and on a pay per month subscription model.

Q2: Your most recent background prior to Geyser Data is with Zadara. What was your role there and how did that experience help establish your vision for Geyser Data?

Ans: I co-founded Zadara and ran it for many years until we reached a substantial size with more than 500 cloud locations. At Zadara we pioneered “On premise-as-a-service-storage”. Although Geyser is a different type of storage, my experience allowed me to bring this new idea to light very fast, hire a magnificent team, and build the strategic partnerships necessary to be successful.

Q3: Tape can currently be consumed in a cloud model by simply engaging some of the well-known deep archive cloud service providers. What makes Geyser Data different?

Ans: The reason we called the company Geyser is because we allow the user to extract the hot value of the data underneath the glacier; to that extent, some of the critical difference with Geyser and the cold archive tier of the cloud providers are that we don’t charge egress fees nor retrieval fees, so there is a substantial cost savings. Our “Cloud Tape Libraries” have dedicated tapes per user, so the user knows even the barcodes of their tapes and can ask to have the tapes returned to them. Our Cloud Tape Libraries can be “air gapped” for cyber protection and “remounted” instantly when needed. In addition, our Cloud Tape Libraries are multi cloud, so they can be connected to the traditional cloud to copy the data for further processing in the cloud. In short, there are many differences, our Cloud Tape Libraries are really good for people that want to use the data from time to time and those that want to make sure they are in control of their own data. They also want to save money, that is always a key motivator!

Q4: Tell us about your go to market strategy and who are your target customers?

Ans: Our go to market strategy is via the reseller channel. We have two types of customers, the customers that use tape on premise today and want to move to the cloud or have DR in the cloud. The other target customers are customers that don’t use tape today. But they have workloads like archive or active archive and others in disk or cloud storage. Now, they can easily use Geyser Data with the same S3 interface and save a lot of money.

Q5: What are your plans beyond the U.S. market

Ans: We are definitely building a global Cloud Archive, we have multiple international partners that are ready to go. We will start making announcements soon, probably even before of the end of the year and in early 2025.

Q6: What are you seeing in the world of data storage that is creating the need for this service offering?

Ans: Cold data is 70% of all data. But cold data becomes “warmer” when you really want to extract value from it. I believe there is not enough manufacturing capacity of disk drives to store all the data that customers want to store. There would not be enough IT budget or energy available either! By making tape easier to use, I believe tape will have a much more prominent role as the demand for long term massive storage continues to explode.

Q7: I understand you have had a successful launch within Digital Realty. What makes tape-as-a-service attractive to co-location data center service providers?

Ans: As I mentioned before tape is very low power and availability of energy is a big concern for colos especially as AI deployments increase. The Spectra Logic Cube library that we use, can store 30PBs using only 1.2 kW, an insignificant amount compared to equivalent HDD storage! Also, tape is much denser than hard disk, so it consumes less floor space too. Finally, Digital Realty has this amazing network fabric that interconnects more than 700 data centers. Any customer of these data centers can establish a private connection today to Geyser Cloud Tape Libraries with just a few clicks.

Q8: Finally, when you are not slaving away for Geyser Data, what do you enjoy doing in your free time?

Ans: I love Formula 1 racing, I love watching soccer and I’m really excited for the upcoming World Cup in the U.S.!

Thanks for your time, Nelson, and we wish you a lot of success with Geyser Data’s innovative tape-as-a-service solution!

Check out Geyser Data’s website for more info!

Executive Q & A with Dr. Phil Storey, CEO of XenData

Q1: Welcome Phil to this Fujifilm Insights Blog Executive Q & A! Please tell us a bit about XenData and your role and responsibility as CEO.

Ans: Thank you Rich. I and our CTO, Mark Broadbent started XenData over 20 years ago and our product concept has not really changed in that time.

We wanted to develop software to manage tape libraries and RAID for long term secure storage of files and to combine the best characteristics of each. That is disk access times combined with the speed, security and longevity of tape.

The other thing that we wanted was a different business approach. Remember that we started XenData just after the dot com era when there were a huge number of risky businesses that started and then failed. We wanted a solid business with reliable products and great support – which I think we have.

Q2: XenData has been a long-time sponsor of the Active Archive Alliance and you continue to innovate in the area of active archiving. Can you tell us about your LTO Archive Appliances?

Ans: I mentioned that our business concept was to develop software. Well, we learned along the way that customers want solutions that are as turnkey as possible. So today, we mainly sell archive appliances managed by XenData software. By supplying the combined hardware and software, we are able to guarantee performance and minimize any possible problems that come with unbounded hardware options.

Our LTO archive appliances manage one or more LTO libraries and include managed RAID, from a few TB to a PB of disk. We support almost all tape libraries, including from Dell, HPE, IBM, Spectra, Quantum and Qualstar. Our appliances make writing to LTO just like writing to disk on a network. We also have a private cloud interface. We can replicate to public cloud, etc. I could go on. But in summary, by combining disk, tape and cloud we do provide strategic active archive options for our customers.

Q3: So it seems LTO tape still has a lot to offer, what are the key features and benefits appreciated by your customer base?

Ans: In summary, I would say, LTO supports high performance active archiving at a reasonable cost. Most of our customers have at least several 100s TB. It is at that volume of data and above where LTO is particularly attractive from a cost perspective. Of course, the fundamentals of tape are a must for our customers which are high reliability and long life. And in these times of climate change, the low energy profile and low carbon footprint of tape is attractive too.

I should add that we have over 1,500 installations with LTO libraries and about 90% of these are for Media & Entertainment type applications. Our customers include TV stations, Hollywood studios, video production and post-production companies as well as many marketing departments for large corporations and governmental organizations.

Q4: You mentioned Media & Entertainment customers and their appreciation of your LTO tape solutions, tell us about your new Media Portal software?

Ans: This is yet another innovative interface into our LTO archive systems. We have our core file-folder interface that can be accessed via standard windows network protocols like SMB and NFS, an option for a private cloud interface that makes accessing the archive like writing to and reading from Amazon Web Services S3 and now Media Portal adds a web interface. A user can browse the file-folder structure of their archive, see previews of video files and image files and then download the files that they need. We also have a search capability which is based on file and folder name. Media Portal will be released later this year and I am very excited about it, especially as it opens up all sorts of options for future development including AI options like converting speech to text and then searching on the text.

Q5: You mentioned that most of your archive installations are for Media & Entertainment applications. Would you tell us more about some of the other application areas?

Ans: We have installations in video surveillance, healthcare and life sciences applications. A solution that combines both disk and LTO tape is particularly attractive for large video surveillance installations because it offers longer retention periods with massive scalability at a very reasonable cost.  

Q6: You recently returned from the IBC show in Amsterdam in mid-September. What can you share about the show; what was the buzz overall and in storage specifically?

Ans: Not surprisingly, AI was a key theme at the show, with a dedicated AI Tech Zone. The show also addressed sustainability, including energy efficiency in devices and delivery systems. So for us, it was super busy as there is lots of demand for long-term energy efficient storage. One of the recurring themes was the realization among our customers and prospective customers that cloud is so expensive for users even with just a few hundred TBs of content.

Q7: Finally, when you are not globe-trotting and running XenData, what do you like to do in your spare time?

Ans: Last year, my wife and I moved from California to just outside of Minneapolis to be close to our two lovely granddaughters. As you know, the winters are brutal in Minnesota, but we had a plan for that. Three years ago, we started designing and building a house on the beach in the Yucatan, just north of Merida. We only completed the project in July of this year. So, the answer to your question, ‘what do we do now’ is just one word: relax!

Thanks for your time Phil, and we wish you a lot of success with your innovative LTO tape solutions!

Reading Time: 4 minutes

How long have you been working at Fujifilm and what is your role in the company?

I have been with FUJIFILM Data Storage division for 3.5 years now as Director of Marketing for the FUJIFILM branded Linear Tape Open (LTO) product line, and I’m located at the FUJIFILM North America headquarters in Valhalla, NY. Prior to being with Fujifilm, I spent 13 years in business aviation marketing making sure that sales take off!

What’s do you like most about your job?

I have really enjoyed installing a digital marketing infrastructure from the ground up. This is what we call the “DX project” and it involves a lot of new technology, processes and organizational improvements. This allows our sales & marketing teams to be more efficient and results in a better customer experience when seeking information about our products, services and value proposition. But I also like the creative side and the development of content that we use in the DX project.

Can you talk about some of your recent marketing campaigns?

Our current campaign is called “Built on Tape” and started in early 2023. This ANA Award-winning campaign features eye-catching creative and is designed to build awareness for the fundamental advantages of modern data tape. We believe organizations can build solid storage strategies with tape as a building block especially when it comes to cool or cold data. Hopefully readers of this blog page will have seen our banner ads throughout the IT world. 

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Reading Time: 4 minutes

In this executive Q&A, Shota Kamimura discusses his role at Fujifilm as a media reliability engineer, solutions to data storage problems, and the future of magnetic data tape.

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

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Reading Time: 4 minutesIn this executive Q&A, Jim Ghelfi, Head of Hyperscale Accounts, discusses his role at FUJIFILM Recording Media U.S.A. and how tape and FRMU can benefit hyperscale environments.

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Reading Time: 4 minutesIn this executive Q & A, Tom Nakatani, president of FUJIFILM Recording Media U.S.A., Inc. (FRMU) discusses how tape technology plays a vital role in the world of data storage now and in the future.

Q1) Tell us a bit about yourself, your career at Fujifilm and how you ended up as president of FRMU? 

I don’t like to age myself, but I have been in the Recording Media Business for 25 years since I joined Fujifilm in 1997. I worked primarily in international sales and marketing, responsible for key customers and partners. I also spent about six years at the European headquarters in Germany.  Most recently I was assigned as VP of Sales and Marketing in the U.S. in September of 2020 before being appointed president of FRMU as of July 1^st of this year. As president, I am responsible for the sales and profitability of this division including our Bedford manufacturing facility. I’m pleased to say Bedford is a world class operation with many cutting edge technologies and sustainability initiatives in place. It’s also the world’s largest LTO manufacturing facility, producing the greenest form of storage. But our biggest asset is our team of employees across the organization, from coast to coast, dedicated to exceptional customer satisfaction.

Q2) What are some of the biggest challenges facing the data storage industry today?

I think the biggest challenge starts with the ongoing and escalating digital transformation that is generating more data than we ever could have imagined even ten years ago. We are now firmly in the zettabyte age where we have a tendency to keep everything indefinitely and we’re afraid to delete anything. And rightfully so, as the value of data has increased and in many ways it is the new currency in this digital economy.

But the question is, how can we continue to manage ever increasing volumes of data that are growing exponentially? How can the industry afford it from a TCO perspective and from an energy consumption perspective? The IT industry needs to reduce its impact on global warming and climate change. And how do we protect the data from theft or ransomware? The IT industry needs a cost-effective way to prevent unauthorized access by securing data in offline, offsite locations.

These are significant challenges but tape solutions are part of the answer. It simply requires a strategic approach to data management and getting the right data in the right place at the right time. Why keep inactive data on 24/7 spinning disk that costs a lot and consumes a lot of energy? Why not move it to modern automated tape systems to reduce cost and CO2 footprint? This will free up HDD space for new, active data! Why not make a low cost copy of the data on tape and send it offsite for cyber security reasons? These solutions are available and are being practiced by the most technologically advanced and data intensive customers in the world today including the major hyperscalers.

Q3) How is FRMU innovating to address these challenges?

Together with our global Recording Media colleagues around the world we continue to bring innovative new products and solutions to market. Our tape technology provides the world’s leading companies with high-capacity data storage solutions to help them manage the increasing volumes of valuable data that we just discussed. Our recent release of LTO-9 with 18 TB native and up to 45 TB of compressed capacity is a good example. According to recent studies by industry experts, LTO-9 is even more energy efficient than previous generations of LTO and when compared to HDD can reduce CO2e by more than 95%. In addition, our Bedford facility has come up with innovative ways to custom package our tape products according to specific customer requirements for ease of use and sustainability goals. Our engineering teams have developed diagnostic tools to maximize performance of tape systems for some of our largest customers. We are also very excited about the innovation we are bringing to the object storage market.  Our S3 compatible Object Archive software enables access to low cost tape storage with high reliability and security for long term archiving and preservation of valuable but low access data sets.

Q4) What role do you think tape will play in the future?

We believe organizations and enterprises of all kinds will continue to rely on our products for long-term, reliable, secure, eco-friendly and cost-effective data protection and retention. This includes backup for cybersecurity and ransomware protection to active archive for infrequently accessed data to cold archive for so much of the data that is rarely accessed but still has value and can’t be deleted. We have the fundamental building blocks in place to continue increasing areal density and capacity of magnetic linear tape well into the future based on magnetic particle science such as Barium Ferrite, Strontium Ferrite and even Epsilon Ferrite in the more distant future. Our most recent technology demo with IBM showed the potential for 580 TB of native capacity on a single LTO sized cartridge. That’s a lot of data but it’s what will eventually be needed to store and protect data beyond the zettabyte age in an economical and energy efficient manner. I’m sure that advancements will also continue in flash and HDD or new technologies like DNA data storage will come along. But I believe all these technologies will be needed and will complement each other.

For more information, visit: https://datastorage-na.fujifilm.com/lto-tape-data-storage/

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In this executive Q & A, Kim Ryder, VP of Finance & Operations, discusses her role at FUJIFILM Recording Media U.S.A. and how Fujifilm’s Bedford Manufacturing facility plays a vital role in the world of data storage now and in the future.

Q: Explain your role as VP of Finance and Operations

First, I’d like to start by wishing our readers a healthy and happy Holiday season!

My primary role is to drive and maintain operational excellence within the Bedford Manufacturing facility to deliver products and solutions that provide exceptional customer satisfaction.  It’s not a trivial task! Many of the world’s largest technology companies depend on us to deliver premium quality, high-density tape cartridges that back up the internet and safely and cost-effectively retain user content for decades.

Q: What are some of the sustainability initiatives you have undertaken at Fujifilm?

The FUJIFILM Groups’ approach to creating a Sustainable Society is to resolve social issues through our business activities and consider society and the environment in our business processes.  In response to the corporation’s vision, in November 2013, we installed a 1,870 solar panel array on the roof of our Bedford Manufacturing Facility.  Our solar installation has produced 4,858,000 kWh since its inception. That’s the equivalent amount of energy used by 9,700 homes during an entire month. It’s also the equivalent of a reduction of 2,915 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. Over 20 years, this would equal the carbon sequestered by 11,870 acres of U.S. forest in one year.

“With over 3,000 bulbs replaced, we estimate a savings of 400,000 kWh this year!” – Kim Ryder

In addition to our solar panels, we converted to LED lighting in our manufacturing facility. By converting to LED bulbs, we will reduce our carbon footprint by approximately one-third, minimize daily maintenance work, decrease our UV emissions to zero, and be more energy-efficient overall. With over 3,000 bulbs replaced, we estimate a savings of 400,000 kWh this year!

Of course, tape is the greenest form of data storage available, consuming 87% less energy than the equivalent amount of hard disk drive storage. When you look at the total lifecycle from raw materials to production to distribution, to usage and disposal, the reduction of CO2 goes up to 95%.

Q: What role does the Bedford Manufacturing facility play in the IT industry?

Actually, Bedford is the world’s largest manufacturing facility of Linear Tape-Open (LTO) high-capacity data cartridges. Our products provide the world’s leading companies with high-capacity data storage solutions to help them manage the digital transformation’s exponential data growth.  As a result, organizations and enterprises of every shape and size rely on our products for reliable, long-term, eco-friendly and cost-effective data protection and retention. With data as the new currency and lifeblood of the digital economy, Fujifilm plays a unique role in serving the dynamic IT industry with innovative data storage solutions.

Q: What are some of the challenges you face?

We face a lot of similar challenges as other manufacturing facilities. The disruption in the domestic and global supply chain has forced us to rethink our overall supply chain strategy. We’ve had to tighten our inventory controls, strengthen our communication with our suppliers, look for and qualify alternative vendors, and heavily rely on our employees for innovative solutions to overcome the day-to-day challenges. However, our agile response to the disruption has allowed us to maintain exceptional customer service to our customers.

Our second most significant challenge is the labor market. We’ve all heard the terms the “great resignation”, or the “great reshuffle”, or the “great renegotiation”. We often wonder, “where have all the employees gone”?  However, with employees being our biggest asset, we’ve had to focus on not only recruiting but retaining our staff. We’ve had to take a hard look at our organization and recognize the need for and put together a succession plan that includes accelerated training and development for immediate changes to some of our business functions. We’ve also made several changes in our work-from-home policies, implemented flexible work schedules, and offered additional benefits.  In our manufacturing area, we’ve increased incentives and created new positions allowing for growth and development. We’ve come up with innovative ways to continue to engage our employees in activities while staying safe.  We are focused on providing a positive recruiting and onboarding experience for our new employees.

Q: What are the key advantages of today’s modern data tape technology?

There are many advantages of today’s modern tape technology. But I think the big ones have to do with cost savings, capacity, sustainability, and cyber security.  Tape has the lowest cost per terabyte of data stored or the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Tape’s high capacity per cartridge and low energy consumption contributes to its low TCO. The low energy consumption profile of tape makes it eco-friendly. Today, energy-intensive storage solutions like hard disk drive technology are giving way to eco-friendly tape solutions that consume less energy and produce less CO2 emissions. This helps the IT industry to reduce its impact on global warming and climate change. Finally, in response to rapidly increasing cybercrime incidents like ransomware, high-capacity tape offers an efficient and cost-effective way to prevent unauthorized access by securing data in offline, offsite locations. This is a practice that is now recommended by the FBI and other Federal agencies like CISA.

Q: What makes Fujifilm Bedford an attractive place to work?

For starters, we have a bright future! As the IT industry has entered the age of massive zettabyte storage, Fujifilm and IBM together have demonstrated future technology enhancements for increasing the capacity of tape systems beyond 500 TB per cartridge, securing a bright future for tape for decades to come in long term data protection and retention.

Secondly, our work environment is like no other – it’s based around respect, trust, and diversity with a comfortable and positive atmosphere. We keep the work challenging and rewarding, with opportunities to learn and grow. Our consensus-driven management style and strong core values set us apart from most other companies. Fujifilm strives to offer a healthy work environment that promotes individual responsibility and growth, a collaborative spirit, and an atmosphere that encourages learning, professional development, and achievement.

Finally, with data as the new currency and lifeblood of the world’s leading companies, Fujifilm is uniquely positioned to serve the dynamic IT industry with innovative solutions for a long time to come.

For more information, visit: https://datastorage-na.fujifilm.com/lto-tape-data-storage/