Digital Records Management

RM Archival Storage for a .net World

For customers, IT vendors, and services firms providing enterprise content management (ECM) solutions, there is a true revolution occurring and gaining momentum. For the next real productivity gains to be realized from the application of information technology it is agreed by most analysts and major ECM vendors in the market that a move to Web services and non-proprietary, standards based solutions must occur.

Without Records Management (RM) discipline and retention rules applied to the growing mass of content, the overload described above will continue to cause storage repositories to grow exponentially and to expose organizations to ever more risk. A true records management approach is needed for all the content created and managed in a .NET world to effectively control the lifecycle of all content, no matter the author. RM can help mitigate the risks associated with expiring or deleting content before the end of its legal life and can make sure that content is expired and disposed of appropriately in accordance with organization policy and legal requirements. No need to keep smoking guns around unless required by law to do so!

Compliance is a real market force and will drive adoption of content management solutions that include records management as a cornerstone. The legislative mandates in the United States including Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, the Patriot Act, and SEC regulations will cause companies and organizations to get their content "houses" in order or face significant negative consequences to the business.

The optimal RM archive storage solution for a .NET world is characterized by network attached storage that utilizes standard IP-based connectivity, supports industry standard file format (e.g. UDF) for multi-platform support and transparently supports various optical storage technologies and associated libraries seamlessly. This allows customers to extend RM discipline and functionality to any optically based archive storage solution enabling an open, standard and network approach for RM archiving.

How MSM Addresses IP-based Records Management (RM) Storage Requirements

StorageQuest's MSM series of network attached appliances unify optical storage providing organizations with an integrated approach to streamlining IP-based records management archive storage and reducing costs in FIVE ways:

1. Unified Storage

The MSM network appliance with Web-based management provides file-sharing and management from anywhere on the network. Investments in the build-out of storage area networks and infrastructures, to better manage information and storage costs, are fully leveraged through the MSM. By enabling any optical storage library to easily integrate into the corporate infrastructure, it allows any application fast and easy access to compliant storage resources.

2. Open Storage

The MSM utilizes industry standards such as: Universal Disc Format (UDF), Linux, TCP/IP, NFS, CIFS, HTTP, SNMP, SCSI, Gigabit Ethernet and iSCSI. Complete system transparency is achieved through the use of UDF which is fully supported by all major operating systems including: Windows, MAC/OS and UNIX providing a completely open and transportable archive solution. Information stored through the MSM onto optical media can be read by any of the aforementioned operating systems as a standard operation - no special drivers or additional software to purchase. Your archived data is free from vendor "lock-in" as nothing is proprietary. The MSM provides total freedom of choice for compliant archiving regardless of Vendor, Format or Media.

3. Simplified Storage Management

The MSM provides total management for all of your optical library resources through its powerful, yet easy to use, Web-based management and control system. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) guides you effortlessly from the installation of the optical library to configuring it and managing it from anywhere on the network or in the world! Truly a Plug-n-Play experience as within minutes applications are archiving and retrieving data from anywhere on the network.

4. Complete Storage Support

The MSM supports the complete range of optical media formats including: WORM, Magneto-Optical (MO), DVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CCW,CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW as well as the latest advances in optical storage such as: Professional Disc for Data (PDD) by Sony and Ultra High Density (UDO) by Plasmon. The MSM also supports a wide range of optical libraries including: HP, Plasmon, IBM, Sony, ASACA, Pioneer, JVC and Kubota. A bright future in optical storage is assured as StorageQuest is working closely with industry visionaries such as InPhase Technologies' 3D Holographic Storage and the Blu-ray Disc consortium. By providing our unified storage solution as these products come to market, it insures a compliant archiving roadmap for many years to come.

5. Low Cost Storage

The MSM lowers the total cost of compliant archival storage in several ways: Through its simple Plug-n-Play appliance model systems administrators can easily install, configure and manage optical library systems. There is no need for high level technical resources to be employed to support an MSM Archival system. The MSM enables the sharing of the optical storage resources throughout the network, amortizing the archival costs across many applications, thus lowering the total cost of ownership for compliant storage within the enterprise. The MSM lowers costs through the utilization of low cost optical storage. For example: a DVD-R library system using the UDF format enables any data archived on inexpensive DVD-R media to be read on any Windows, MAC/OS or UNIX system directly. Today's systems have DVD drives already installed so there is no additional hardware or software to purchase. This totally open architecture greatly reduces long term storage costs and management, while eliminating the need for costly and risky data conversations from one system to another.