The Virtual Tape Appliance from Universal Software Inc. is a device control unit which can be attached to an IBM S/390 or zSeries mainframe computer. The VTA then emulates a bank of 4 to 128 tape drives. The VTA is extremely easy to install and use. It provides complete 3490E emulation and supports all S/390 Operating Systems. The VTA also incorporates many operational features not found in other Virtual Tape systems.
The design of the VTA allows for a smooth transition from traditional tape drives to the automated, unattended virtual tape environment. Traditional tape drives are costly to maintain and are high consumers of electrical power as well as floor space. The VTA reduces such costs dramatically. Perhaps the biggest savings is in greatly reducing operational costs as well.
Inexpensive, open network storage is used to house the virtual tape images created by the VTA. Many users will find it feasible to add enough affordable disk storage to accommodate their entire tape library. If not, a variety of choices exist for selectively migrating some of the files to offline long term storage. The VTA comes with a built in “Zip and Ship” feature which allows for automated, policy based, archival of selected virtual tape files. Archived files can be written to CD ROM, backed up to real tape, or transmitted off site as appropriate for any particular users needs. Optional Hierarchical Storage Management routines interface with an attached Automatic Tape Library for the largest users.
Also, the use of vendor neutral open storage allows the use of sophisticated SAN/NAS products, incorporating such features as remote mirroring, snap shot, and file replication using delta technology for secure, reliable, backup and disaster recovery applications tailored to the user’s needs. Universal Software can provide expert consultants who will help analyze your backup and disaster recovery needs to provide just the right combination of economy and capacity for your environment.
The VTA server is supplied as a stand alone tool-less automated, unattended operation which is scalable and affordable from the smallest VSE shop to the largest OS/390 or z/OS data center.
