Tape automation's never looked so good.

Don't you just hate it when you're trying to tape the ball game and your VCR tape runs out at the most crucial moment of the game, forcing you to jump out of your recliner, spill your favorite beer, and stub your toe on the couch as you frantically rush to the closet to grab a new tape? Well, Sony has recently announced a solution to this problem, intended to relieve similar awkward situations faced by IT administrators dealing with data retention.

With the recent onslaught of new laws and regulations currently being passed by congress (SEC record retention rule for the Financial sector as well as the HIPAA requirements for the Healthcare Industry), managing an over-abundance of storage has become an increasingly important obstacle to overcome, even for the Small to Medium-size Business (SMB).

Sony has recently unleashed a new family of Autoloaders--the LIB-D81 series--and as the name suggests, it is designed to take over the management of tape inventory. Sony is marketing this robot as an entry-level product for SMBs. We recently decided to take the StorStation LIB-D81/A2 autoloader for a test drive and as my IT administrator emphatically put it "We're keeping it!" We tried the product as a daily backup solution for our file servers, application server, mail server and workstations combining:

* Novel NetWare 5.0

* Novel Netware 3.12

* Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

* Microsoft Windows 2000

* PC and Macintosh platforms.

The box not only looks great with its sleek and hip design, but it also combines simplicity and effectiveness to relieve the administrator of the laborious task of daily tape switching. It is ideal for first time multi-cartridge automation. Its plug-n-play attribute is exemplified by its convenient software, which recognized all of our devices with no problems and without the need to download any drivers. In addition, it comes bundled with a WORM-enabled version of Computer Associate's Brightstor ARCserve, which has been the standard for backup software for years.

We found the robotic mechanism to be dependable for retrieving and loading tape cartridges into the seven (eight, including the cleaning tape) drive slots while previously recorded data is accessed or new data can be written. The technology gives you the option of storing long-term data with its WORM technology, as well as rewrite data, which is needed when rotating tapes.

The multi-tape concept of the Autoloader proved to offer increased storage capacity over our other single-tape drive mechanisms. Autoloaders are available for a variety of tape technologies including DDS and AIT, which makes for convenience when the time comes for buying new tapes.

A small detail that needs to be pointed out is the fact that the Autoloader's tapes do not contain the self-cleaning mechanism that some of its competitors do. This makes the process involved in having to clean with a separate tape somewhat irksome.

Nonetheless, this latest release by Sony is everything that it claims to be. It is a viable alternative to manual tape management for the SMB market. And, with a fair price tag of around $5000, it gets the job done. So much so, that we've decided to implement it into our own storage architecture. Let's just hope that Sony lets us keep it!

For more information on the Autoloader and other Sony products please go to:

www.storagebysony.com