IBM and Fuji announced that the companies' researchers have developed a prototype storage system which features 15 times greater storage capacity than most fashionable types of magnetic tape available on the market, as it is, in fact, a dual-layer magnetic tape that can hold 6.67 billion bits of data per square inch, informs Zdnet.

This is also another record for IBM, as the company's scientists have developed a tape capable of a density of 1 billion bits per square inch in 2002.

The tape, created by Fuji, consists of a thin layer of barium ferrite crystals dispersed uniformly. And, as the barium ferrite does not corrode or change chemically in time, it makes a good option for long-term storage.

The tape is a result of many years of studies, as Fuji's researchers are using barium ferrite crystals in order to develop enhanced storage tapes for a long time, but the latest media is the best they came up with until now.

Furthermore, researchers from IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory have developed a new coding method that improves the accuracy of reading magnetic bits, augmenting the read-write head and the methods for positioning the head to reduce the size of the data tracks by about 90 percent.

"With tape automation revenue growth expected to be up to 8 percent through 2011, our customers are storing increasing amounts of data to manage their enterprises and to address the compliance requirements of laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996," Cindy Grossman, vice president, IBM Tape Storage Systems, said in a statement.

The fact that the tape will be available on the retail market at half the price of other such recordable media, guarantees the success of this IBM-Fuji development. In addition, consumers will be able to purchase storage systems equipped with this new type of technology in about five years, according to IBM.

Photo Credits- IBM