In the era of big data, the continuous explosive growth of data is driving the demand for cost-effective storage technologies. Magnetic tape systems constitute an integral part of current tiered storage infrastructures and are well suited for long term data storage thanks to their low total cost of ownership, low power consumption, very high reliability and long media lifetime. To meet the growing need for cost-effective storage, it is critical to continue to scale the areal density and the cartridge capacity of tape systems. In this talk, the focus is on advanced control technologies that achieve nanoscale positioning as well as their role in today’s and future tape systems.