Exabyte Corp. is shipping its VXA-2 PacketLoader 1×10 1U, a US$3,299 FireWire 800-based tape backup system intended for Mac-based rack mount installations, including Xserve systems. It’s built with an auto-loading mechanism that enables up to 1.6 terabytes (TB) of storage capacity using ten VXA 160GB tape cartridges. The system comes with a rack mount kit, cables, backup software and a cleaning tape, as well as a copy of Dantz’s Retrospect Workgroup/Single Server backup software.
Exabyte first announced the VXA-2 PacketLoader 1×10 1U at Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco, Calif. in January, 2004. At the time, Exabyte anticipated shipping the new backup system before the end of the first calendar quarter. A company spokesperson on Tuesday confirmed that the system is just now shipping.