Hello all,

We're currently faced with a decision go with a dedupe storage array or with 
TSM dedupe for our backup storage targets.  There are some very critical pros 
and cons going with one or the other.  For example, TSM dedupe will reduce 
overall network throughput both for backups and replication (source-side dedupe 
would be used).  A dedupe storage array won't do that for backup, but it would 
be possible if we replicated to an identical array (but TSM replication would 
be bandwidth intensive).  TSM dedupe might not scale as well and may 
neccessitate more TSM servers to distribute the load.  Overall, though, I think 
the cost of additional servers is way less than what a native dedupe array 
would cost so I don't think that's a big hit.

Replication is key. We have two datacenters where I would love it if TSM 
replication could be used in order to quickly (still manually, though) activate 
the replication server for production if necessary.  Having a dedupe storage 
array kind of removes that option, unless we want to replicate the whole 
rehydrated backup data via TSM.

I'm going on and on here, but has anybody had to make a decision to go one way 
or the other? Would it make sense to do a hybrid deployment (combination of TSM 
Dedupe and Array dedupe)?  Any thoughts or tales of woes and forewarnings are 
appreciated.

Thanks!
Sergio