We’ve read the stories time and time again - how a backup tape gets lost somewhere between the origin and the destination, never to be found again.

Well it sounds as if Fujifilm has come up with an interesting solution, a kind of LoJack for lost tapes, the company announced today.

The Fujifilm Tape Tracker fits inside a standard tape and leverages GPS technology and a web-based application to provide companies with the whereabouts of their critical data.

The tracking software, now in beta, is planned to be released sometime early next year.

Depending on its cost, it might be worth the buy, especially considering how many of these tapes tend to literally “fall off trucks.”

This software may not prevent companies from having to report the incident in the first place, but if the tape is eventually recovered, it will go a long way to protecting brand reputation in the days and weeks that follow.