Hi Tim - I'll add a couple of perspectives...

One of the enhancements in the enw NetWorker 8.0 is an efficient process to 
copy backups from an Avamar Data Store to tape. NetWorker 8.0 does this by 
recovering both data and meta data and saving the recovered backup in standard 
saveset format to tape... Works as advertized. A couple of notes:

1) This new capability is not based upon cloning. When talking about this I 
inentionally avoid using the term' cloning' because... 
2) The new capability uses freshly engineered Synthetic Full code. This does 
not use nsrconsolidate or the saveset consolidation feature.
3) Operation: The new process creates a new savest ID for the tape copy. (=not 
a clone). It's controlled via CLI, which is explained in the admin guide. Time 
will tell if demand warrants porting the controls to NMC. 
4) I advise using this for long term retention. NetWorker dedupe to Avamar is a 
B2D process and I always advise backup to disk, replicate to disk. Tape is 
perfect for long term retention, but that is no longer a best practice for 
daily protection. Best practice is now to consider using this with a weekly or 
even monthly type of policy.
5) The one use case where NW+AV still makes sense is remote office protection. 
I think Matt's comparison of Avamar and Data Domain was spot on.   

Best regards,
Mark