Automation Beckons!
2nd August 2002 (NISER)
By Gopal Nair

StorageTek took another step forward with its open systems library management software. StorageTek Automated Cartridge System Library Software (ACSLS) version 6.1, immediately available worldwide, incorporates major enhancements in display and reporting capabilities. These features provide users the unparalleled ability to obtain real time information on the health and well-being of the library environments ACSLS 6.1 manages.

ACSLS delivers centralised library management and control to customers with diverse, heterogeneous storage environments. It does so by allowing a wide variety of client applications and platforms to simultaneously share StorageTek libraries without contention. This capability greatly reduces the number of libraries and drives that would otherwise need to be dedicated to individual clients and as a result, reduces the personnel requirements needed to manage them. Courtesy of its new features, ACSLS 6.1 provides dynamic retrieval of environmental information, expanding users' ability to proactively monitor, assess, and adjust their operations to maximise performance and increase business value.

"The release of ACSLS 6.1 is in direct response to, and cooperation with, our large customer base. Our customers let us know they require increasingly simplified and effective library management coupled with solid investment returns. The feature rich and robust nature of ACSLS 6.1 match those requirements," said Boey Y K, regional product manager, StorageTek South Asia. "ACSLS allows customers to seamlessly integrate a diverse client application and platform environment into a centrally managed and cost effective operation that drives a high degree of business value."

Boey added, "Think of ACSLS in its simplest form as a mediating s/w. In an environment where there are multiple hosts as well as multiple backup s/w, sharing a tape library would mean contention on who gets to use and control the library. So ACSLS comes in as a mediator and the central point of control for the library by which all the various backup s/w needs to channel their requests."

He said, "So the question on security comes in at different levels:-

1. Application / Backup s/w level. Here the application would have access control, data encryption and compression.

2. ACSLS s/w level. At this point it is usually access control in terms of who gets to use the tape library.

3. Tape library level. Physical security plus access control and audit trails."

StorageTek provides advanced storage management solutions that ensure data is available when and where customers want it, and does so with flexibility and precision. With ACSLS 6.1, customers can benefit from efficient library management both locally and remotely to ensure that business critical data is always on hand.