The contract involves the implementation of a data archive system for a major Department of Defense/U.S. Air Force satellite program. Ampex' integrated archive system will provide Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force with a state-of-the-art storage and retrieval architecture. Delivery of the system will commence in early 1999.

Expected to house data from multiple sources, the satellite program requires an automated data archive system capable of quickly storing and retrieving massive amounts of data. Chosen for its performance and reliability, the Ampex system includes multiple DST 712 libraries for a total capacity of up to 100 terabytes (or 100 million megabytes). The DST 712 library has several features, including a drive search speed of 1600 MB/second, which makes it possible to retrieve any file in the archive in less than 20 seconds on average. The system will serve multiple ground station sites.

In developing the proposal for the Lockheed Martin satellite program, Ampex offered the most comprehensive and cost-effective solution. An Ampex spokesperson stated, "This contract is a significant win for Ampex and gives us the opportunity to provide a complete automated archiving and retrieval system for one of the most highly-complex and multi-faceted satellite programs."

About the DST 712 Automated Tape Library

The Ampex DST 712 library reduces the cost of storage to less than 3 cents per megabyte, simplifies media administration and lowers overhead by reducing the need to manually track and house large numbers of data cartridges. The DST 712 library's high storage density also improves file access time by minimizing cartridge exchanges. Utilizing one or more tape transports, each transferring data at high speeds, the DST 712 library transfers uncompressed data at an industry-leading rate of 40MB/second sustained, or more than 140GB/hour.