September 29, 1997

Sutmyn Inks Storage Deal With Amdahl Agreement will provide support for virtual tape product By Martin J. Garvey utmyn America last week announced a service agreement with Amdahl Corp. aimed at helping it compete with heavyweights IBM and Storage Technology Corp. in the tape storage market. Amdahl will provide round-the-clock support for Sutmyn's Scimitar 2000 Virtual Tape Solution, a system that's designed to save companies money by making more efficient use of existing mainframe-based tape storage infrastructures. IBM also offers virtual tape software, but it works only with IBM's own tape products. StorageTek isn't expected to ship a virtual tape produc t until next year. Scimitar/VTS is available now and works with tape systems from IBM, StorageTek, and Fujitsu. The deal with Fujitsu-owned Amdahl extends Sutmyn's existing relationship with Fu- jitsu. Sutmyn says Amdahl's backing will attract corporate users. "Amdahl is highly respected for higher-end computing at some of the largest companies in the world," says Ron Bulin, president of Sutmyn, in Irving, Texas. Scimitar/VTS, announced earlier this year, takes existing data from multiple vendors' tape systems, temporarily stores and restructures it on disk, then packs the data more efficiently onto tape cartridges. It's based in part on technology that Sutmyn acquired last year when it bought the storage business of Memorex Telex. One user says virtual tape storage addresses a big problem. "The efficiency problem is like finding a cut on a music tape vs. finding it on a CD," says Dan Kaberon, computer resource manager for Hewitt Associates Inc., a provider of human resource services in Linc olnshire, Ill. Hewitt was a Memorex user and was involved in Memorex's development of the original product, Kaberon says. Mark Friedman, president of Demand Technology Inc., an IT advisory firm in Naples, Fla., likes Scimitar/VTS's portability, but says users who weren't previously Memorex customers will need complex file allocation control software originally developed by Memorex. Back to News in Review Send Us Your Feedback Top of the Page

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