I’m an IT Manager for an engineering firm in the south - we have four offices using TACIT, been running it for about six months.
You are right, TACIT is historically a ‘file’ shop, only recently getting into WAN optimization market (the recent acquisition by Packateer will no doubt help with this), while Riverbed is historically a WAN optimization shop getting into distributed file management.
The right choice will depend on what you need – we were looking for a way to keep data consistent between offices and have local ‘real time’ caching at remote locations. TACIT’s history extends well beyond Riverbed’s in this. If you are looking to improve performance on the WAN, look to Riverbed, which is a fine company in its own right.
Probably the KEY POINT for most IT Departments, Riverbed (when I was looking at any rate) is not Windows based – some kind of Linux kernel – in any case, some of the additional features that Tacit carries (Exchange attachment distribution, print server, and I believe domain controller) are not available. Also, they’re a Microsoft partner so you can count on future releases being compatible, or at least as compatible as anything is under the Microsoft umbrella.
As for Land Desktop problems with TACIT, most have to do with the database file. Keep in mind, any system that operates on a lock and lease basis like BOTH products do, will NOT WORK with any kind of MDB file that multiple users access. This will go away with Civil 3d which I believe uses more XML tables I to store that data…but that’s another thread entirely.
There are also some other key things that your IT Department MUST DO to ensure smooth operation of the TACIT devices (I’m going to avoid the obvious ones like which ports to open on your firewalls, etc):
In Land Desktop:
-- Your LDT Databases must not be on the Tacit Remote Appliance (TRA). One person accessing it will lock out everything, or at the worst cause serious corruption issues. We setup a separate mapped drive on a local file server that backups to a directory on the TRA every evening (so we still have a centralized backup at the data center).
-- Your Support file paths should path locally: This a rule of thumb for CAD on any kind of server – don’t run your support paths to a server – you’re slowing yourself down. To ensure consistency and standards, use robocopy upon login or logoff to mirror the important customization files you have. Your dual-core dual processor monster with 4gigs RAM/256 MB video RAM gets you SQUAT if you’re querying the network every time you access a menu command (yes even with GigE). Granted the TACIT system amplifies any issues you would have had before by running standards from the network tenfold.
-- Under the Projects menu in User preferences, again, I’d recommend avoiding the TACIT device – generally these are templates and LDT specific reference material anyway and should be stored with the databases on a separate local device.
On Your Workstations (XP/2000)
-- Disable Offline Files.
-- Right click on any CAD shortcut or drawing, go to EnableDisable Digital Signatures. Take the check OUT.
-- Exclude any workstation scanning of viruses on your network drives. It all goes in real time back to the data center where you’re running virus protection so your fine
On your Tacit system:
Stay up to date on software, and only install security patches that are cleared through the support department..
What this system does is incredible but it will take some adjusting and most of all PLANNING to get it right. Don’t expect to turn it up and smile, especially if you already have branch offices. You’ll be grooming data for a while before you go live – this isn’t just for Tacit, it’s for any consolidated storage system. Remember, you can’t polish a turd – if you’re data’s disorganized in separate file servers, just wait until you copy it all to one location.
Just my two cents –
Cheers
Pete Nuffer
IT Manager