Fortune 1000 Braces for ''Summer of Storage 2006''; NTP Software advises enterprises to ''take control'' and educate users

Business Wire, June 7, 2006

NASHUA, N.H. -- NTP Software, the worldwide leader in user-focused, policy-based storage management, is advising Fortune 1000 enterprises to use the summer and finally "take control" of their storage platforms and educate users on policies.

"Employees typically take more vacation time during the summer months, however, network storage systems don't have this luxury," said Bruce Backa, CEO of NTP Software. "We're advising the enterprise storage administrator to use the next several months to build out their storage policy strategy to better manage resources in preparation for the busy season."

NTP Software has noted increased levels of network storage usage during the summer as employees accrue photos of vacations, weddings and family events, for example. During slow summer months, employees may also take advantage of the latest technologies featuring video blogs, online TV and digital home videos. Without the processes in place to identify illegitimate files on the network, organizations risk security breaches and regulatory compliance failure.

"In an effort to help them take control, we're urging storage administrators to use technologies to classify and apply content filtering policies to prevent users from consuming disk space with frivolous data," continued Backa. "The introduction of new storage formats means that users could take up vast amounts of space very quickly. Take for instance, uncompressed HD video, which takes up over half a terabyte per hour of video. By not setting meaningful limitations, users could take a healthy array from 80 percent free to full in the time it takes to download the content of their portable USB drive."

Due to the potential shortage of IT administration during the coming summer months, NTP Software advises that enterprises should also implement automated processes to ensure effective management of the organization's storage infrastructure.

Lastly, enterprises can expect a number of new hires, which will require administrators need to clearly communicate storage management policies, but not spend an abundance of time doing so. NTP Software is calling for automated Intranet-based self-service functionality in which users can request more storage though a formulized, online process.

"Enterprise storage network infrastructures need management, even in the summer," added Backa. "Implementing continuous management of storage policies is required to leverage existing storage assets as well as to ensure that the network infrastructure remains in compliance during all seasons."

About NTP Software

Founded in 1994, NTP Software is a worldwide leader in user-focused, policy-base storage management. We create platform independent products that enable companies to automatically control the compliance, access, quotas, content and life-span of their user's stored files. NTP Software solutions also gather the analysis and planning data necessary for both short-and long-term decision making, providing everything necessary to actively control all aspects of a user's relationship with local and shared storage. NTP Software is based in Nashua, NH, and is privately held. NTP Software is located on the web at http://www.ntpsoftware.com, and can be reached at: (800) 226-2755 or (603) 622-4400, or via e-mail at info@ntpsoftware.com.