No more delivery on 3480 and 3490 tapes

I told you earlier about this, but the date has changed a few months. Last time there was a modification to the z/OS 1.12 preview announcement saying that product delivery on 3480 and 3490 tapes would be discontinued on October 26, 2010. Now there's a specific announcement about this : 'Software withdrawal: Selected media types for IBM programs (ZP10-0263)'.

Effective February 22, 2011, IBM® will withdraw the following tape media types for IBM programs:

• 3480 Tape Cartridge - compressed format
• 3480 Tape Cartridge - uncompressed format
• 3490E Tape Cartridge

People still using these tape formats bought some extra time, but do look out for another solution.