Storage Cat 08 3/10/08 17:04 Page 32
32 DATA STORAGE
TIME TO GET SMART ABOUT DATA
Simon Gregory explains how a smarter approach to data storage
can unlock value from existing corporate assets
Words: By Simon Gregory, Business Development Director, CommVault
There are a number of obvious business benefits for virtualisation). Abstraction allows the ingestion of existing
retaining, accessing and managing data and information on assets into a defined infrastructure without changing their
the corporate data network. To date most IT organisations profile; a pertinent example is providing the indexing and
have placed heavy emphasis on simply storing data but search of all data sets regardless of where and on what they
changes are needed if IT is to align its delivery capabilities to reside (not just filenames and directory structures but real
the business. content within the unstructured data sets).
So are smart data networks really that smart? By If CIOs and IT managers are to realise the full value of both
definition data storage networks should be an interconnected new and existing data assets, they need to be asking
group of media devices containing data and information. In pertinent questions of the existing storage infrastructure and
our opinion, the benefit of such a system is to securely, share data management policies.
and communicate the assets that reside within it. For the CIO, governance and compliance will always be high
Business continuity, for example, demands a need to access on the agenda so can their organisations data retention
and recall data or information to support the restore or policies be both assured and easily modified as legislation or
recovery of various business assets (individuals’ data, governance requirements change?
records, applications, systems and sites). For the IT manager, data and information recovery remains
Higher still on most organisational agendas is corporate core to any resilience planning so to enable rapid and accurate
governance (more typically and commonly miss-referred to as recovery, ‘is any or all data; searchable, accessible and
compliance), i.e. ensuring information is retained for a period recoverable from a single point, regardless of the product
of time relative to an organisations retention criteria. used to manage the original data set?’ If not then what
In both cases the key to either governance and or recovery impact does this have on business continuity plans at
is access to the information that resides within the data set. a cost and complexity level?
As such, if retention, access and recovery are the And for the business: Can you find the
instigating factors for storing all of our data, perhaps we information you need without having to
need to consider whether or not segregated and discreet know the file it was stored in; can you
“smart” data network devices and existing data management find the data or information you need
technologies are able to deliver what we need. without knowing when and where it
The realisation that data is a useable corporate asset is was backed up or copied and finally
changing the focus from the infrastructure upon which can you find data and information
information is hosted, and directing it to the policies and that requires deletion after a
process for retaining the data and information. prescribed period - and then easily
This recognition could not be timelier as most data centres delete it? If a data management
today are already under strain to simply store all the data yet solution does not support these
alone deliver retention, access and recovery solutions simple functions then perhaps it‘s
effectively. As the scale of the asset base grows the time to review it.
proposition of service delivery is becoming untenable. There The initial aim was to derive value
are however new ways of managing data and information and from smart networks. Is it possible?
they rely on a basic philosophy which is driven from the We believe so. Our view is that a
business requirement: that all organisations should strive to unified approach to data and
retain, search and recover all of its data and information from information management is the most
a single point. appropriate method of retaining,
As with all new methods come challenges. Integrating searching and accessing all information
legacy hardware whilst delivering new services has historically from a single point regardless of the devices
been a complicated affair. The key to encompassing legacy that constitute the network; we don’t think that’s
systems is abstraction (not to be confused with too much to ask for.
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