TOKYO -- Thirty or so years ago, virtually every home in the developed world had a collection of cassette and video tapes. With the advent of optical disks such as CDs and DVDs, followed by the spread of Internet downloads and streaming, magnetic tapes disappeared from our daily life. But tapes are still on active duty at data centers that store enormous volumes of data. Researchers are also making progress on storing ever larger quantities of data on them.

     Artificial intelligence, cloud computing and big data are driving the latest in information technology. In contrast, magnetic tape has a retro image. At first glance, there would not appear to be much relationship between the former and the latter, but in reality there are very deep ties. For technologies such as AI that use vast quantities of data, reliable and easy-to-use data recording media are critical, and magnetic tapes are less costly than the hard disks and semiconductor memories that are the current mainstream in recording media.

Discover the all new Nikkei Asia app

Discover the all new Nikkei Asia app

Nikkei Asian Review, now known as Nikkei Asia, will be the voice of the Asian Century.

By continuing to browse this website, you accept cookies which are used for several reasons such as personalizing content/ads and analyzing how this website is used. Please review our Cookie Policy to learn how you can update your cookie settings.