SUMMARY: 3rd party tape libraries/drives

Wow!  Fantastic responses from the list, too many individuals to mention.

My original question is included at the bottom, but in short, I was looking
for opinions/experiences with some 3rd party tape library vendors who have
quoted me for a library attached to our new F3800.  What I found was that
ADIC seems to be the most popular of the third party vendors, based on the
number of responses and praise for compatibility and support.  STK and
Quantum/ATL each received their share of positive comments, especially STK
for their relationship with Sun, and Qulastar received a note of praise,
but the following of ADIC really seems too strong to ignore.

One item that a number of admins questioned was our reasoning for choosing
S-DLT over AIT or LTO.  Let's just say that this library attached to the
F3800 will be the primary archive media for that server, but will be the
backup media server for our Intel side of the house and (you guessed it),
that is already on the path to S-DLT.  Oh well - got to keep the peace!

Thanks again everyone -

Tom H.


>Hello everyone,

>I have been charged with the task of finding a Super DLT tape library to
>attach to our new F-3800.  Since Sun does not have any plans to market a
>S-DLT drive under their marque now or in the near future, I've been
>investigating 3rd party vendors.  I have four vendors that have quoted me
>on the same basic configuration (two drive, approximately 20 slot
library),
>all within a very tight pricing range;
>
>ADIC
>Storage Tek
>Quantum/ATL
>Qualstar
>
>I was wondering if I could poll the list for good/bad experiences with
>these vendors (does not have to be a DLT solution) before making our final
>decision.  Not sure how I will summarize, but one will follow.
>
>Thanks in Advance -
>
>Tom Holliday - Systems Engineer
>Excelsior College
>7 Columbia Circle
>Albany, NY 12203