Content Addressed Storage

Computer Technology Review, Jan, 2005 by Jim O'Connor

Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) has become the latest acronym in the Storage industry. Storage vendors are adapting the term at rapid rates as they attempt to describe all encompassing technologies that meet the new regulatory rules and incorporate disaster recovery solutions. Critical data is given top priority storage resources and is always available while over time the data is migrated to more cost efficient locations within the system. Fixed content, or never changing data, needs to be managed differently as part of a comprehensive ILM approach.

As regulations in varied industries impact how each company must house their information and for how long, both long term and near term storage for fixed content is changing. Growing content generation is an issue of concern as increased mandates across varied industries are being inked. Companies need to satisfy strict records-retention regulations such as HIPAA and electronic records mandates in healthcare, SEC Rule 17a-4 for broker-dealers, Department of Defense legislation in the government sector, CFR mandates in life sciences and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements for all public companies or companies that are working towards IPOs. All of these regulations are driving the need for increased storage and in inalterable formats.

ILM should be looked at as a way to maximize the value of this information at the lowest cost at every point of the lifecycle. By combining the processes and storage technologies, end users can manage data from the moment it is created to when it is no longer necessary. Implementing an ILM strategy involves identifying the right software, hardware and process at each stage of information's lifecycle. EMC provides the Centera solution to handle much of this content, and through partner relationships, the product can meet the ever growing demands of the fixed content storage market.

Fixed Content

The term "fixed content" simply refers to data that is written once and never changed. Many of these critical legal, business and reference documents appear as invoices, purchase orders, financial statements, check images, archived e-mail and attachments, broadcast content, satellite imagery or medical X-rays. This information needs to be stored and accessible but cannot be altered in any way. Once housed in file cabinets or old storage archives, regulatory requirements and digitization across numerous industries is increasingly driving this content to be stored online.

Regulations like DOD 5015.2 in the government sector discuss how the Department of Defense must secure and maintain documents while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Rule 17a-4 describes stringent rules that govern the storage of all electronic messages including e-mail and instant messages for its members. The EPA also has requirements for companies in their electronic reporting and records management while healthcare companies are coming to terms with what Secretary of Health Tommy Thompson proposed this summer--to make all medical records electronic in the next few years.

Across varied industries, also driving fixed content is the need for regulatory compliance. Sarbanes-Oxley Act, passed August 2002, was enacted to restore investor confidence in the financial reporting of public companies and hold a company's officers personally responsible for misrep-resentation. Any public company is affected by the act, and experts recommend private companies hoping to go public or be acquired by a public company also should abide by the rules as well.

This act has a two phased effect on IT departments and their storage components as companies initially scrambled just to comply with the law in order to provide the necessary documentation to auditors. Eventually, companies will want to automate the process, building audit trails and procedures into their systems. With Sarbanes-Oxley in place, corporations with valuations greater than $75 million, will by 2006, end up generating, in total, close to 1.6 exabytes of fixed content data per year. To put it in current terms, that means 1.6 billion gigabytes of fixed content a year.

Unlike other files or databases, these documents need to be maintained in their original format. As companies look to leverage this content for fueling new business opportunities and driving revenue, an alternative approach that provides an all encompassing ILM strategy becomes imperative. When you add in compliance for electronic record-keeping, which was spurred even further by new SEC regulations, a storage schema designed specifically for keeping fixed content secure and in place is inevitable.

A Solution: Content Addressed Storage

Companies are seeking a proven storage solution that can help users better handle the growing volume of fixed content at a very low cost. The growth of this information is explosive. For example, mainframe applications generate new fixed content every nanosecond. One of the solutions that help companies maintain and locate this vast amount of information on an ongoing and growing basis is Content Addressed Storage.