IBM has a long history of innovation in magnetic tape data storage

For those who are unfamiliar, its first commercial tape product, the 726 Magnetic Tape Unit, was announced more than 60 years ago. It used reels of half-inch-wide tape that each had a capacity of about 2 megabytes.

The new areal density demonstration represents a potential increase in capacity of 165,000,000 times compared with IBM’s first tape drive product. This announcement reaffirms IBM's ongoing commitment in magnetic tape technology.