Archiving101.com

Two weeks ago I copresented a session at Microsoft TechEd in Atlanta, GA with Tom Hand from Sherpa Software on the impact of SharePoint and eDiscovery.  For those thinking about deploying SharePoint or those that have deployed SharePoint its an excellent ‘roudtable’ discussion.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/teched2011.aspx?tab=Videos&seriesid=190&webcastid=17739

This week I’m spending time at TechEd talking to not only archiving vendors but also to archiving vendors and it struck me that we as humanity have all turned into digital horders.   In essence it has become socially unacceptable to delete or lose data.  94% of our information worldwide is stored in digital format and only 6% these days is on paper (whether its books, magazines or newspapers).   Should we accept that some information inevatebly will get lost in the long term (i.e. 25 years) … just like it was inevitable that some paper records didn’t survive over the past few thousand years?

 It was kind of to be expected with the amount of vendors offering email archiving that some would ‘pull the plug’.  It was estimated that there were more than 100 vendors offering email archiving (for the sake of keeping it simple I’m combining hosted and on-premises) to prospects.  Over the past 12 months some have stopped offering their solution or sold their offerings/business unit to a competitor

Sunbelt Software (sold their OEM archiving business to GFI)

H&S (sold to Metalogix)

Red-Gate (ceased offering their archiving solution)

Trend Micro  (ceased offering their archiving solution)

CA (sold Information Governance to Autonomy)

 So some consolidation is happening and I expect that we’ll keep seeing this trend in 2011.

The growth of digital storage is exploding worldwide.  There was an article recently in the Washington Post that shows some pretty impressive numbers.   Read for yourself at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/10/AR2011021004916.html?sid=ST2011021100514

Last week I ran across this very interesting article on preserving digital records at Science Daily who made a very good point on that the physical media the data is stored on doesn’t last.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101116072749.htm

An old-school alternative to digital storage has a modern spin that could save us from future information loss as technology changes and today’s state of the art devices become tomorrow’s museum pieces.

Digital objects — documents, images, databases — require specific software to open and read them, which in turn requires specific operating systems, device drivers, and hardware to run them depending on the format in which they’re stored, whether magnetic, optical or some other system. The pace of change in the world of technology is so rapid that applications as well as media technology have only short life spans and archived data has to be migrated at frequent intervals on to new data carriers and into new file formats to maintain its integrity. For instance, data that once might have been held on magnetic tape or floppy disks is unreadable on today’s equipment and CD-ROMs and other media will go the same route in the future.

If the 0s and 1s of digitised information can succumb to the vagaries of technological change, one thing is certain, analogue archives will always be readable to future generations provided they retain language skills. After all, we can read the works of modern authors almost as readily as the words of Shakespeare and Chaucer and ancient hieroglyphics bear close scrutiny once we cracked the code. With this point in mind, Steffen Schilke of the Gemeinsame IT-Stelle der hessischen Justiz in Frankfurt am Main in Germany and Andreas Rauber of the Department of Software Technology and Interactive Systems, Vienna University of Technology, in Austria discuss how e-government archives might be safely stored using an alternative to digital media — the microfilm format beloved of spy fiction.

Writing in the International Journal of Electronic Governance, the team explains how e-government applications have to archive data or documents for long retention periods of 100 years or more for legal reasons and also such materials are often worthy of storage for future historians. They and many others have recognised the problems of storing such materials in digital media and suggest that in terms of cost, stability and technology independence, microfilm offers a promising solution for “off-line” storage.

The team has carried out a feasibility study that analysed encoding techniques to allow digital data to be saved on to microfilm and then to test data recovery as well as cost issues. Aside from precluding the need for frequent technology updates, storage of documents and data on microfilm will give future generations access to the information by scanning the microfilm into whatever system they are currently using and applying optical character recognition to re-digitize und subsequently decode the data.

The team further suggests that in order to reduce the amount of microfilm used for any given repository and so cut conversion and re-digitization times it would be possible to convert a stream of text into a bar-code type system that would still be entirely analogue but would rely on knowledge of the conversion key to return the data to digital form from microfilm. Using such a system could render a tested 170 kilobyte file that requires 191 pages of microfilm space as just 12 or so “printed as a two-dimensional barcode. Such a barcode would incorporate redundancy and be self-checking unlike a straight digital to analogue image scan of the text. Further compression is possible, if colour microfilm and barcodes were used for storage. This may provide a valuable, low-maintenance additional back-up for the original digital objects in addition to preservation activities needed for the on-line access copies.

For microfilm data storage, no tapes, no spinning discs, no electronic devices are needed and the only precautions necessary for the storage of the microfilm is a dry, temperature-controlled and locked closet or even just a hermetically sealed box. “The advantage of such a method is clearly the ‘don’t care’ factor for the media migration,” the team asserts, “With a lifetime of more than 100 years a lot of media migration projects (which are usually necessary every 3 to 7 years) could be avoided, saving money, effort, and precluding the risk of data loss as technology diverges away from today’s standards.”

Had to move the server and also vacation got in between.  With that not behind us you can now expect more posts from me again.

Join me this Thursday for a webinar on How Exchange 2010 Handles Archiving and Retention: http://bit.ly/ajWrK3

http://www.mimosasystems.com/html/news-pr-mimosa-systems-acquired-by-iron-mountain-02-22-10.htm

Iron Mountain Adds All-in-One, On-Premises Archive to Complement its Cloud Offerings; Company Now Capable of Managing Information Wherever it Resides

BOSTON (Feb. 22, 2010) – Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), an information management services company, today announced it has acquired Santa Clara, Calif.-based Mimosa Systems, Inc., a leader in enterprise-class content archiving solutions, for approximately $112 million in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The deal provides Iron Mountain with an integrated archive for email, SharePoint data and files, and gives the company an on-premises archiving option to complement its existing cloud-based archives.

The ability to archive and manage data both onsite, inside the customer’s firewall, and remotely in the cloud makes Iron Mountain a one-stop shop for data capture, archiving and management. It also provides the company’s customers with greater flexibility and choice for managing their information.

Additionally, the company can now capture and manage a broader range of enterprise information from so-called “edge-of-the-network” devices like desktop PCs and laptops as well as from company repositories like email stores, SharePoint servers and file systems. Many larger businesses still prefer to keep this data on their premises today. Finally, the acquisition allows Iron Mountain to extract intelligence from the information it manages both on-premises and in the cloud, advancing the company’s larger strategy to help enterprises lower the costs and risks associated with storing and managing information.

“We’re really excited about adding Mimosa Systems,” said Ramana Venkata, president of Iron Mountain Digital, the technology arm of Iron Mountain. “We acquired Mimosa because we believe it offers the best archiving technology on the market, and the company shares our philosophy to help customers reduce the cost and risk of storing and managing information. By combining Mimosa’s on-premises archive with our cloud-based technologies, Iron Mountain can now store, recover and discover digital content wherever it resides. This is a great example of the type of technology acquisition that fits well within our long-term growth strategy.”

Mimosa NearPoint™ is an enterprise archiving platform with applications for retention and disposition, eDiscovery, compliance supervision, classification, recovery, and end-user search, enabling customers to reduce risk, and lower their eDiscovery and storage costs. Mimosa has more than 1,000 enterprise customers and is recognized by industry analysts as a fast-growing, visionary archiving company.

“Enterprises today are buried in email and other forms of user-generated content, making information storage and management a complex, expensive and risky exercise,” said Arun Taneja, founder and consulting analyst of the Taneja Group. “This deal strengthens Iron Mountain’s position in the market as a comprehensive provider of information management solutions. Its customers now have greater flexibility to store and manage their information onsite or in the cloud, where it makes sense for their budget and business.”

NearPoint joins a broad portfolio of content archiving, data protection and recovery, and eDiscovery solutions from Iron Mountain Digital. Customers wanting to archive email can now choose either NearPoint for onsite archiving or Iron Mountain’s Total Email Management Suite, powered by Mimecast® technology, for archiving email in the cloud. Additionally, customers can use Iron Mountain’s Digital Record Center® for Compliant Messaging for email that must meet SEC regulations and supervision.

The addition of the NearPoint content archive also offers customers an enhanced eDiscovery solution set for quickly finding content and applying legal holds across email, file and SharePoint data. For larger litigation matters, organizations can easily transfer their onsite data to Iron Mountain’s cloud solution, Stratify Legal Discovery® Service. For smaller matters or in instances where companies want to begin the eDiscovery process on their own, they can do so onsite with Iron Mountain’s early-case assessment tool for eDiscovery, eVantage™.

The Mimosa team will be retained and become an integral part of Iron Mountain Digital. The president and CEO of Mimosa Systems, T. M. Ravi, will assume the role of chief marketing officer for Iron Mountain Digital, responsible for all marketing functions and helping to drive strategy planning and execution for Iron Mountain Digital.

“It’s a win-win situation for our customers and partners who can now leverage Iron Mountain’s global reach and comprehensive information management services,” said T.M. Ravi. “The Mimosa team will play a key role in the development and execution of the company’s cloud and on-premises information management strategy.”

About Mimosa
Mimosa Systems, Inc. delivers next-generation email, file and SharePoint archiving solutions for information immediacy, discovery, and continuity. Mimosa NearPoint is the industry’s most comprehensive unstructured information management software solution for email, files, collaboration systems and instant messages, enabling archiving, eDiscovery, storage management, and recovery in a unified solution. Mimosa is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, recognized for its competencies in networking infrastructure solutions, ISV/software solutions, and advanced infrastructure solutions.

About Iron Mountain Digital

Iron Mountain Digital is the world’s leading provider of information management services for data protection and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery and intellectual property management. The technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated offers a comprehensive suite of solutions to thousands of companies around the world, directly and through a worldwide network of channel partners. Iron Mountain Digital is based in Southborough, Mass.

About Iron Mountain

Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) helps organizations around the world reduce the costs and risks associated with information protection and storage. The Company offers comprehensive records management and data protection solutions, along with the expertise and experience to address complex information challenges such as rising storage costs, litigation, regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain is a trusted partner to more than 140,000 corporate clients throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit the Company’s Web site at www.ironmountain.com.

http://www.mimosasystems.com/html/news-pr-mimosa-systems-acquired-by-iron-mountain-02-22-10.htm

Iron Mountain Adds All-in-One, On-Premises Archive to Complement its Cloud Offerings; Company Now Capable of Managing Information Wherever it Resides

BOSTON (Feb. 22, 2010) – Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM), an information management services company, today announced it has acquired Santa Clara, Calif.-based Mimosa Systems, Inc., a leader in enterprise-class content archiving solutions, for approximately $112 million in cash, subject to closing adjustments. The deal provides Iron Mountain with an integrated archive for email, SharePoint data and files, and gives the company an on-premises archiving option to complement its existing cloud-based archives.

The ability to archive and manage data both onsite, inside the customer’s firewall, and remotely in the cloud makes Iron Mountain a one-stop shop for data capture, archiving and management. It also provides the company’s customers with greater flexibility and choice for managing their information.

Additionally, the company can now capture and manage a broader range of enterprise information from so-called “edge-of-the-network” devices like desktop PCs and laptops as well as from company repositories like email stores, SharePoint servers and file systems. Many larger businesses still prefer to keep this data on their premises today. Finally, the acquisition allows Iron Mountain to extract intelligence from the information it manages both on-premises and in the cloud, advancing the company’s larger strategy to help enterprises lower the costs and risks associated with storing and managing information.

“We’re really excited about adding Mimosa Systems,” said Ramana Venkata, president of Iron Mountain Digital, the technology arm of Iron Mountain. “We acquired Mimosa because we believe it offers the best archiving technology on the market, and the company shares our philosophy to help customers reduce the cost and risk of storing and managing information. By combining Mimosa’s on-premises archive with our cloud-based technologies, Iron Mountain can now store, recover and discover digital content wherever it resides. This is a great example of the type of technology acquisition that fits well within our long-term growth strategy.”

Mimosa NearPoint™ is an enterprise archiving platform with applications for retention and disposition, eDiscovery, compliance supervision, classification, recovery, and end-user search, enabling customers to reduce risk, and lower their eDiscovery and storage costs. Mimosa has more than 1,000 enterprise customers and is recognized by industry analysts as a fast-growing, visionary archiving company.

“Enterprises today are buried in email and other forms of user-generated content, making information storage and management a complex, expensive and risky exercise,” said Arun Taneja, founder and consulting analyst of the Taneja Group. “This deal strengthens Iron Mountain’s position in the market as a comprehensive provider of information management solutions. Its customers now have greater flexibility to store and manage their information onsite or in the cloud, where it makes sense for their budget and business.”

NearPoint joins a broad portfolio of content archiving, data protection and recovery, and eDiscovery solutions from Iron Mountain Digital. Customers wanting to archive email can now choose either NearPoint for onsite archiving or Iron Mountain’s Total Email Management Suite, powered by Mimecast® technology, for archiving email in the cloud. Additionally, customers can use Iron Mountain’s Digital Record Center® for Compliant Messaging for email that must meet SEC regulations and supervision.

The addition of the NearPoint content archive also offers customers an enhanced eDiscovery solution set for quickly finding content and applying legal holds across email, file and SharePoint data. For larger litigation matters, organizations can easily transfer their onsite data to Iron Mountain’s cloud solution, Stratify Legal Discovery® Service. For smaller matters or in instances where companies want to begin the eDiscovery process on their own, they can do so onsite with Iron Mountain’s early-case assessment tool for eDiscovery, eVantage™.

The Mimosa team will be retained and become an integral part of Iron Mountain Digital. The president and CEO of Mimosa Systems, T. M. Ravi, will assume the role of chief marketing officer for Iron Mountain Digital, responsible for all marketing functions and helping to drive strategy planning and execution for Iron Mountain Digital.

“It’s a win-win situation for our customers and partners who can now leverage Iron Mountain’s global reach and comprehensive information management services,” said T.M. Ravi. “The Mimosa team will play a key role in the development and execution of the company’s cloud and on-premises information management strategy.”

About Mimosa
Mimosa Systems, Inc. delivers next-generation email, file and SharePoint archiving solutions for information immediacy, discovery, and continuity. Mimosa NearPoint is the industry’s most comprehensive unstructured information management software solution for email, files, collaboration systems and instant messages, enabling archiving, eDiscovery, storage management, and recovery in a unified solution. Mimosa is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, recognized for its competencies in networking infrastructure solutions, ISV/software solutions, and advanced infrastructure solutions.

About Iron Mountain Digital
Iron Mountain Digital is the world’s leading provider of information management services for data protection and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery and intellectual property management. The technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated offers a comprehensive suite of solutions to thousands of companies around the world, directly and through a worldwide network of channel partners. Iron Mountain Digital is based in Southborough, Mass.

About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) helps organizations around the world reduce the costs and risks associated with information protection and storage. The Company offers comprehensive records management and data protection solutions, along with the expertise and experience to address complex information challenges such as rising storage costs, litigation, regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain is a trusted partner to more than 140,000 corporate clients throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit the Company’s Web site at www.ironmountain.com.

This morning I ran across this blog post on Delaware eDiscovery and it is a great short clip that you as readers almost certainly is going to enjoy.  Go to:  http://www.delawareediscovery.com/2010/02/articles/sources-of-esi/seventh-sign-of-the-apocalypse-movie-about-ediscovery/