The extremely durable AME tape provides a virtually contamination-free operating environment. In the event that contamination does occur, Sony's patented Active Head Cleaner is automatically activated to remove the debris. Sony's AIT drives feature a redesigned Metal-In-Gap (MIG) tape head which uses a unique geometry for reduced head/media pressure, providing over 50,000 hours of head life. Sony's AIT drives employ a helical scan recording, providing higher density recording. This enables Sony customers to lower media costs and increase efficiency by storing more data on a smaller amount of tape. Sony also uses Advanced Lossless Data Compression technology (ALDC), previously available only in mainframe-type tape drives. This provides substantially greater compression than the older, IDRC or DLZ compression algorithms.