I assume the server is the mainframe.

Your transfer rates are pretty typical, I would think.  For fewer large
files, you might see performance approaching 1Mbyte/sec.  For many smaller
files, you might see less.

Your bottleneck is your network.  Comparing these transfer rates to
direct-to-tape isn't really fair.  The single mitigating factor in favor of
ADSM is you are only going to move all of the data once.  From then on it's
incrementals only.  So, the amount of data you actually need to move on a
daily basis is significantly less.

Now let's talk about restores.  Most restores are for small numbers of
files, usually from yesterday.  ADSM excels at this type of restore.
 However, for large restores, say the entire drive or the entire system,
you are going to be bottlenecked by your network.  Is this a problem?
 Anyone who has ever sat in my class knows the answer is "It depends."  You
are advised to define what your restore time requirements are.  Say you
have a 4 GB hard disk, 75% full and you have a full disk restore time
requirement of 4 hours. You will easily make this time over your network
(I'm assuming your ADSM Server will never be the bottleneck, and with your
configuration that's perhaps a bad assumption).  If, on the other hand, the
restore time requirement is one hour or less for this restore, you are
almost certainly in trouble.  Again, mitigate this entire problem by
realizing the restore we just discussed does not happen that often and if
it does, you ought to consider different hardware.

ADSM can really reduce your costs in the overall scheme of things.
 Especially if you have many systems with locally attached tape drives.
 Centralized management, bullet proof technology, sharing higher end tape
subsystems, etc., make ADSM a good choice.  You would perhaps consider a
private 100 Mbit network to a dedicated ADSM server, maybe on NT.  The
overall cost of this solution is probably in the $50-$80K range.  If you
have many clients, 20 or more, this can usually be cost justified on
manpower and hardware costs alone.

Don't jump ship quite yet.  There's more to this than meets the eye.

Kelly J. Lipp
Storage Solutions Specialists, Inc.
www.storsol.com
lipp AT storsol DOT com
(719)531-5926