I am not familiar with their product, but I have been using Sepaton's
Virtual Tape Library (VTL) for several months with no problems.  The
Centricstor appears to a similar product but I am at a loss as to why it
would need third party software for "syncronizing scratch tapes", what
ever that is.  A VTL should appear to TSM as just another automated tape
library (ATL) and TSM would use it just like any other ATL.  All TSM
operations (backups/restorations/reclamations/etc.) happen just as with
an ATL, just much faster.  Sepaton's VTL has been "TSM certified" if
that helps in making the VTL leap.  I have been very satisfied in going
with a VTL for on site storage pools and my 3494 for off site storage.

H. Milton Johnson
 
-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Jim Kirkman
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 9:23 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: Centricstor and TSM?

Anyone out there familiar with this product? It's marketed as a virtual
tape solution and they make a case for using it to "Improve Performance
and Reduce Costs in a TSM Environment".
In this document they also reference Gresham Software's 'Enterprise
DistributTape' as a requirement for syncronizing scratch tapes but infer
that 5.3 will incorporate this functionality. Not that we have any
immmediate plans to go to 5.3 but I am curious whether that actually
happened.

Thanks!

--
Jim Kirkman
ITS Infrastructure
UNC-Chapel Hill
919-698-8615