Maintaining a digital tape archive has long been considered a "cost of doing business," with few, if any, proactive approaches to cost reduction or improved management of the information assets.
  
  However the fundamental question remains: are you managing your digital tape archives appropriately?
  
  This paper discusses some of the drivers of digital tape archives -- and provides IT professionals with some practical considerations that can help them frame a set of questions about how digital tape archives are managed, and the benefits of migrating from older technologies to new disk- or tape-based solutions.