Is it possible to save snapshots to tapes?

[Jonnysan]

We're currently using VEEAM to backup all VMs and Physical Machines (no local HDDs) for long term archival and Netapp SnapManager for SQL and Exchange (Many VMS have RDMs) in conjunction with VSC for immediate recovery. 

If we could save weekly (1 month of retention) and monthly snapshots (5-7  years of retentino) to the tapes, I don't really see a reason to keep VEEAM backup.

Is it possible to preserve snapshots in tape the same way we do with VEEAM? If yes, what is the recommended architecture and required components?

[AlexDawson]

We have some functionality through a feature called SMTape - http://docs.netapp.com/ontap-9/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.netapp.doc.dot-cm-ptbrg%2FGUID-6B5C48F0-B5BF-47C9-B40E-CF03704E95E6.html

An important note though - You can restore data to volumes created across up to two major consecutive Data ONTAP releases only. This might not be suitable for 5-7 year retention.