To my knowledge, almost all (if not ALL) the VTLs/IDTs are just Linux
kernels running tape emulation and dedupe software inside a server.  So
I don't really see this as a software vs hardware debate, as it's really
all software. It's more along the lines of design goals and
single-mindedness.  VTL vendors knew they had to run at 100s or 1000s of
MB/s, so that's what they designed for -- and they had to bet big or go
home.  The backup software dedupe products, OTOH, were designed mainly
to back up remote offices, which has very different design goals.  In
addition, they had many other products to get right as well.

---
W. Curtis Preston
Backup Blog @ www.backupcentral.com
VP Data Protection, GlassHouse Technologies 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf
Of
> Nicholas Cassimatis
> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:58 AM
> To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
> Subject: [ADSM-L] Fw: TSM being abandoned?
> 
> Compression and encryption are also much faster in hardware than
software
> -
> especially when the software is running on a processor doing other
work.
> Nothing new under the sun - it's just the same paradigm applied to a
new
> function.
> 
> Nick Cassimatis
> 
> ----- Forwarded by Nicholas Cassimatis/Raleigh/IBM on 04/17/2008 01:51
PM
> -----
> 
> "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU> wrote on 04/17/2008
> 12:13:08 PM:
> > Re: TSM being abandoned?
> >
> > Curtis Preston
> >
> > to:
> >
> > ADSM-L
> >
> > 04/17/2008 12:18 PM
> >
> > Sent by:
> >
> > "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager" <ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU>
> >
> > Please respond to "ADSM: Dist Stor Manager"
> >
> > Just to set realistic expectations... To date, no backup software
vendor
> > has offered dedupe that has anywhere near the speed that is offered
by
> > the VTL/IDT (intelligent disk target) market.  The backup software
> > dedupe products run at 10s of MB/s, MAYBE 100 MB/s, but that's it.
The
> > VTL/IDTs START at 300 MB/s and go up to 1000s MB/s.  I wish the best
for
> > IBM in this regard, as I am a big fan of dedupe, but history is not
in
> > their favor.  In addition, the other software companies that did
this
> > did so by acquisition.  It appears that IBM is going to do it
> > themselves.  That's much harder.
> >
> > That is, unless, the rumored acquisition of Diligent ever happens...
> >
> > ---
> > W. Curtis Preston
> > Backup Blog @ www.backupcentral.com
> > VP Data Protection, GlassHouse Technologies
> >
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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