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The above roadmap is a projection of AIT product development and is subject to change. There is no guarantee or warranty, expressed or implied, that future generations will be developed or brought to market.

AIT-E Turbo
Sony's AIT-E Turbo drives, introduced in 2004, are based on the field-proven, high density, high performance AIT tape technology. AIT-E Turbo drives offer a new data capacity rate of up to 20GB (up to 52GB compressed) and a 6MB/s data transfer rate. AIT-E Turbo provides a low-cost entry point into the AIT family, providing an ideal migration path for DDS users.

AIT-1
The AIT-1 format, introduced in 1996, offered a data capacity rate of up to 25GB (up to 65GB compressed), and a 3MB/s data transfer rate. An extended length tape for the AIT-1 drive was introduced in 1999 to offer additional capacity of up to 35GB (up to 90GB compressed) and the data transfer rate was increased to 4MB/s in 2001. AIT-1 shipments have continued to increase and represent about 50% of total AIT unit shipments today and are a primary replacement product for the 4mm DDS tape market.

AIT-1 Turbo
Sony's AIT-1 Turbo drives, introduced in 2004, are based on the field-proven, high density, high performance AIT tape technology. AIT-1 Turbo drives offer a new data capacity rate of up to 40GB (up to 104GB compressed) and a 6MB/s data transfer rate. Performance and capacity improvements provide a supercharged tape drive for the low-end market, while providing aggressive lowered pricing to address cost-sensitive budgets. AIT-1 Turbo is available in a variety of interfaces, including SCSI, ATAPI, USB, FireWire, and SATA.

AIT-2
An important contributor to the past AIT technology growth has been the AIT-2 product line, introduced in March of 1999 and providing a capacity of up to 50GB (up to 130GB compressed) together with a 6MB/s data transfer rate. AIT-2 has also continued to increase and now accounts for about 30% of total AIT unit output. The AIT-2 has been enhanced to provide the Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) capability for selected applications and configurations. Similar to the AIT-1, the AIT-2 is market positioned to compete in the low-end tape market, specifically targeting the new generation of 4mm DDS products.

AIT-2 Turbo
Sony breaks new performance ground in the low end drive space with AIT-2 Turbo. Based on proven, standard AIT drives, this model doubles the native performance of AIT-2 (from 6MB/s to 12 MB/s), and increases native capacity an incredible 60% (from 50GB to up to 80 GB). AIT-2 Turbo also offers a number of unique features, including WORM. In addition, AIT-2 Turbo offers the ability to choose between media with the performance enhancing MIC chip, or lower cost media without the MIC chip. AIT-2 Turbo serves up three times the performance and twice the capacity of DAT72, and the flexibility of SCSI, ATAPI, USB, FireWire, and SATA versions.

AIT-3
AIT-3 is the third generation AIT technology implementation released in late 2001. AIT-3 offers a native capacity of up to 100GB (up to 260GB with compression) and a native data transfer rate of 12MB/s in a compact 3.5" form-factor. AIT-3 continues the AIT reputation of providing the best capacity and performance within a 3.5" form-factor. The AIT-3 also offers the Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) feature.

AIT-3Ex
Released in March 2006, AIT-3Ex provides up to 150GB native capacity (390GB compressed) and 18MB/s native data transfer rate. AIT-3Ex is another example of Sony improving on existing AIT formats. Implementing the latest technology advancements, Sony was able to enhance the existing AIT-3 format to provide users with higher capacity and performance solutions, while maintaining competitive pricing for budget conscious customers. AIT-3Ex also offers the Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) feature.

AIT-4
AIT-4 is the fourth generation of the AIT family released in Janurary 2005. AIT-4 offers a native capacity of up to 200GB (up to 520GB with compression), and a sustained data transfer rate of 24MB native (a synchronous burst transfer rate 160MB/s max). AIT-4 also offers the Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) feature.

AIT-5
AIT-5 began shipping in Q4 2006 and offers up to 400GB of native capacity (up to 1.04TB compressed) on a single 8mm cartridge at a sustained data transfer rate of 24MB native.
AIT-5 is backward compatible with AIT-3, AIT-3Ex, and AIT-4 media. AIT-5 also offers the Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) feature.

AIT-6
AIT-6 is in a research and advanced development stage necessary to prove key media and recording head technology implementation. In keeping with the overall AIT roadmap strategy, this drive is expected to offer up to 800GB of native capacity (up to 2.08TB compressed).