Abertillery-based tape media specialists, IDATS, has received an injection of £20k in funding from regional business support programme VISTA (Valleys Innovation Showcase for Technological Advancement), to support the development of an innovative new product line and capitalise on recent market growth, which has accelerated since the pandemic.

While digital storage solutions are becoming more popular, many larger companies still rely on tape storage to safely hold large quantities of important data, and the global industry is worth approximately $5bn in 2022 and is expected to grow to $9.3bn by 2030 [1].

As companies move to online storage solutions, many are finding the migration difficult as they struggle to access and move the data held on their legacy physical data storage systems. IDATS supports these companies by taking control of their legacy systems and recovering all of the data stored. It does so through its DART product line.

Now, with £20k in funding from VISTA, the company is developing an innovative new product line, called UNI-CAT, that will complement its DART product by allowing IDATS to search client legacy systems for specific files and information, rather than migrating all data which may not be needed. This will help streamline the data recovery process, saving its clients time and money.

On receiving support from VISTA, Darren Phillips, Technical Director at IDATS said:

“Quite simply, without the funding from VISTA we wouldn’t have been able to quickly develop our new product and capitalise on recent market growth. We’ve also received a huge amount of support alongside the funding, from dedicated workshops to meetings with industry experts, and all of this knowledge will be invaluable as we look to grow the business further.”

Funded by the UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund, VISTA is offering assistance to businesses across Blaenau Gwent with a range of support including, access to grants and consultants and leading academics in their field, as well opportunities to work with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), a network of world-leading research and innovation centres working with advanced manufacturing companies around the globe.

VISTA aims to facilitate business growth within Blaenau Gwent, connect enterprises together for shared learning, and create an Event Studio in Ebbw Vale to showcase the talent and expertise prevalent throughout the region.

Support is being offered to businesses of all sizes including start-ups, by establishing interactions with regional incubators, and is delivered through in-person engagement as well as workshops and equates to two days a month of support.

All businesses across Blaenau Gwent are welcome to contact VISTA for support and can do so by emailing [email protected] .