Removable Media Vendors Ramp Up Size & Security

Despite the role played by removable media in the recent spate of storage snafus, vendors have thrown their weight firmly behind the technology this week.

Backup specialist Iomega, for example, reaffirmed its commitment to portable storage with the launch of its high-end REV 120 drive at the CeBIT trade show in Hanover, Germany.

The 120-Gbyte REV 120 is almost twice the capacity of the vendor's previous high-end offering, the REV 70. Like that device, the REV 120 uses a 2.5-inch disk, although Iomega CEO Tom Kampfer told Byte and Switch that Iomega has overhauled the drive's basic technology.

Unlike its predecessors, the REV 120 uses perpendicular recording, which places bits facing upwards on the disk platter, as opposed to the previous 'longitudinal' method, which places bits lengthways. By using perpendicular recording, the vendor claims to be able to significantly increase storage density.

Density is key to meeting user demand, according to Iomega. "We know that customers are buying a lot of disk," says Kampfer, explaining that the REV 120 could store 48,000 photos, 2,000 hours of music, or 12 hours of high-definition video.Even lower-end users are seeking greater storage capacity, according to Robert Amatruda, senior analyst at IDC. "Everyone is under the same constraints in terms of data growth," he says. "There's no question that capacity typically gets filled."

Iomega has not yet released pricing for the REV 120, which will be launched next month, although Kampfer said this could be around half the street price of similarly sized offerings like Quantum's GoVault or Imation's RDX.

Street prices for a 120-Gbyte GoVault drive are typically between $210 and $215, with the 120-Gbyte RDX drive priced at between $165 and $175.

The first versions of Iomega's REV 120 will offer either a USB connection or the ability to backup data from SATA-based storage systems. The vendor will offer a version for backing up data on CD-ROM drives around the middle of this year.

Iomega also used the CeBIT show to take the wraps off its family of 200rL Linux servers, a family of rackmount NAS devices. Pricing for the 1-Tbyte, 2-Tbyte, and 3-Tbyte appliances, which will be available next month, starts at $1,699.To Page 2

Symantec Seeks Security

Meanwhile, Symantec is also getting in on the removable storage act, unveiling its Endpoint Encryption solution in an attempt to lock down data on USB drives and other forms of removable media. Clearly attempting to address growing unease over lost data, Endpoint Encryption aims to secure data on desktops, laptops, and other removable devices.

In addition to hard drive encryption, the software package uses AES-256 bit encryption to encrypt files copied to USB drives, iPods, CDs, DVDs, and other forms of removable media.

Endpoint Encryption, which is available now, comes in three different formats: a full disk edition, a removable media edition, or a solution that combines both disk and removable media encryption.Bought separately, both the full disk and removable media editions are priced at around $72 per user as part of a 1,000-user license. Typical pricing for the combined solution, which includes both offerings, is $107 per user for a 1,000-user license.

Despite the security risks posed by removable media, encryption may be overkill for some organizations, according to Iomega's Kempfer.

"Password protection is a convenient form of security for most people" says the exec, highlighting the fact that smaller firms often lack encryption know-how. "They probably aren't going to take that [encryption] step unless they have very sensitive information like credit card numbers or social security numbers."

Iomega offers password protection in its drives' system software, as well as encryption via the EMC Retrospect backup software that is bundled with the REV drives for laptop backup.

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