Entries categorized under “Information Management”

One of the most common initial use cases for cloud storage is for the storage of archival data. However that does not mean every organization is quite ready to move all of their archival data to the cloud or, what they do move to the cloud, trust the cloud to be available to provide access to the data when they need it. In this fifth blog entry in my interview series with C2C Systems' CTO Ken Hughes, he talks about the importance of having access to cloud storage repositories for archival data and the advantages of keeping on-premise and data in the cloud synchronized. (read more)

Today EMC announced the availability of a new online file sharing (often referred to as 'sync and share') solution that is aimed at meeting the needs of enterprises. EMC is the first single vendor to offer a comprehensive, end-to-end solution in the file-sync-and-share marketplace. The new EMC solution provides an enterprise grade file-sync-and-share infrastructure from a single vendor. It combats enterprise data leakage risks while helping organizations realize the advantages of increased productivity and collaboration that sync and share enables. EMC backs the enterprise grade moniker with their professional services and 24x7 global support. The solution combines the simplicity and scalability of Isilon scale-out storage with Syncplicity's sync and share administrative and policy control tools. (read more)

The volume of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) for most enterprises continues to grow with no end in sight. Storing and managing all ESI is overwhelming from an operational standpoint, increases legal liability and is cost prohibitive. Therefore, the question for the enterprise is what ESI should the Enterprise keep and what ESI can it legally depose of? Historically known as data retention policy, the focus in 2012 and beyond is on defensible data destruction. Enterprises are no longer legally able to just destroy whatever ESI they no longer want to keep. (read more)

Bring your own device (BYOD) file-sync-and-sharing has exploded in 2012. There are over forty (40) companies offering at least one product to organizations of all sizes. Over half of those companies offer a consumer grade version of their file-sync-and-share. With so many options, CIOs are unable to focus on choosing solutions to enable their organization's workforce while managing data leakage. CIOs can't choose products because the market hasn't been consistently defined. In an effort to define a Buyer's Guide, DCIG is conducting a survey for Mobile Device and Cloud File Sharing. (read more)

In today's information based world economy, Electronically Stored Information (ESI) is the new lifeblood that enterprises use to power mission-critical operations and drive strategic business decisions. Stored in multiple geographic locations across the world in different file formats across multiple technologies and growing exponentially every day, management of ESI has become a major operational challenge for many enterprises worldwide. As the volume of ESI continues to grow, many enterprises have become overwhelmed and are no longer able to effectively identify, collect, analyze and produce the relevant ESI their knowledge workers require to fulfill legal and governance requirements and drive business success. (read more)

The accelerating increase in the volume of Electronically Stored Information (ESI) is resulting in knowledge workers reaching a point where they may not be able to utilize traditional data management and analytic technology and processes to keep pace. However, the increases in knowledge worker productivity and decreases in eDiscovery costs made possible by predictive analytic technology are coming to the point where they are applicable to other knowledge management tasks within the enterprise. (read more)

It was just a few years ago that "mobile devices" and the "the cloud" were blips on corporate radar screens. Fast forward to today and those blips are fast taking shape as major forces for which enterprises must account. As this occurs, organizations need to re-think the steps they take to control and manage information sprawl going forward. (read more)

The purpose of archiving is becoming more than simply facilitating smaller email stores, faster response times or better use of expensive storage capacity. The growing driver behind archiving is to enable organizations to implement information governance. In this second blog entry in my interview series with C2C System's CTO Ken Hughes, Ken explains eDiscovery and retention management are becoming the new driving forces behind archiving and why C2C's ArchiveOne is so well positioned to respond to that trend. (read more)

Many businesses are allocating a portion of their IT budgets to Big Data analytics projects. At the same time, a certain amount of technology spending is necessarily tied to risk management and compliance because a failure to meet minimum eDiscovery and legal hold requirements can have disastrous consequences. While these twin priorities often compete for funding, it is now possible for an enterprise to adopt a single core technology to address both their data analytics and compliance requirements and double their bang for the buck in the process. (read more)

In this final installment of our interview series with GroupLogic we look at how mobilEcho enables organizations to wipe only company data off employees' mobile devices, leaving the employee's personal data untouched. We also hear how GroupLogic is helping telecommunications firms increase revenue by adding value to their customers' telecommunications experience, and we gain insight into the DNA of the company as a software provider for over 20 years. (read more)

The ramifications of organizations not getting data under control are significant. Recent analyst studies find that structured data stores may grow by as much as 60% annually and unstructured data stores by as much as 80% annually. Aggravating this situation, once all of this data is consolidated, the hardware costs associated with scaling the storage infrastructure to accommodate this data growth may be a factor of up to 10x of what it costs prior to consolidation. (read more)

GroupLogic, a secure enterprise file sharing and syncing solutions provider, is all about responding quickly to customer demands for product features. On September 13th, Acronis announced it had acquired GroupLogic. In our previous installment of this interview series, we examined how GroupLogic engages in "customer development" in lieu of product development to integrate customer-driven innovations into its products. In part 4, we take a look at GroupLogic's strategic partnerships with other companies to create products that fulfill very specific needs for customers. (read more)

As businesses and enterprises of all sizes adopt and implement virtualization and the cloud, they expect the future of their IT data centers to be much brighter in terms of driving down infrastructure costs while improving agility. Yet the global findings coming out of Symantec's September 2012 State of the Data Center Survey suggest that complexity is doing more than surviving and thriving in today's virtualized data centers. The promised benefits of virtualization and the cloud are failing to fully materialize. (read more)

What happens when the market moves so fast that premeditated product development often can't keep up? When extensive planning can lead to products that are out of date or irrelevant as soon as they are released? This is the dilemma GroupLogic faces in the enterprise file share and sync marketplace, where many companies have been building their own solutions--including customizing free and freemium solutions--to handle needs that out-of-the-box products simply don't address. (read more)

In part 2, we continue our discussion with GroupLogic's Anders Lofgren, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management, by exploring licensing options and how the enterprise mobility space has opened up a new market for the company. As well, we dig deeper into activEcho and learn how it is designed to provide flexible and secure file-sync-and-sharing in the enterprise IT organization while being as simple and easy to use as one of the most popular--but unsecure--consumer grade file-sync-and-share cloud services today. (read more)

An integrated and centralized data store model that enables stakeholders from throughout an organization to harvest and analyze data on the same platform continues to be the goal of many organizations from the Global 2000 as they strive to address the requirements of Big Data. However, with today's decentralized and cloud based storage systems and data storage requirements for the Global 2000 reaching the petabyte and even exabyte levels, massive centralized single data store infrastructures with single points of failure such as Apache Hadoop may not the most effective long term solution. (read more)

Corporate data making its way to public clouds through the use of consumer-based or department selected tools, is a growing concern for many organizations. So is the cost of backup and storage of ever-increasing volumes of data. Cleversafe and Mezeo Software offer solutions to address these concerns, and the two companies recently partnered to provide information technology (IT) managers with an enterprise-class secure file-sync-and-share solution combined with a limitless-scale data storage solution. (read more)

Many organizations are discovering that their users, via a proliferation of wireless devices, and easy access to consumer-based storage clouds, are precariously storing corporate data on pubic clouds. Addressing this growing problem, Dell recently certified Mezeo Software, a provider of the storage services layer for cloud-scale applications, as a partner in the Dell DX Object Storage Technology Partner Program. (read more)

Earlier this year, DCIG interviewed the executive team at GroupLogic. GroupLogic shared with us how they approach the market for "enterprise file sharing" or what DCIG has been calling File-Sync-and-Share. In addition, we had the privilege of talking to Chris Broderick, CEO of GroupLogic who covered some of the company's history. (read more)

The accelerating increase in the amount of unstructured Electronically Stored Information (ESI) is leaving IT organizations struggling with how to store and manage all of this new information. Aside from needing to provide the underlying storage infrastructure to host this amount of data, companies are also faced with the task of properly managing their Big Data file stores to meet both existing and emerging governance, risk and compliance (GRC) obligations. To do so, there are five initial steps they can take now to get their organization in front of these demands. (read more)

The results of the inaugural Global State of the Information Survey are in and they reveal that businesses worldwide are struggling with protecting and managing the $1.1 trillion investment they are required to make in digital information to remain competitive. Commissioned by Symantec, the survey of 4,506 organizations of various sizes in 48 different countries reveals that digital information now makes up 49 percent of organization's total value with accompanying new challenges and liabilities that cannot be ignored. (read more)

Organizations choosing file-sync-and-share solutions are presented with many options. Buyers and sellers are inquiring with DCIG about "Enterprise Dropbox" options. A popular request is what to look for when selecting a solution. Enterprises and consumers require enhanced features beyond the ease of use and standard consumer capabilities; they require something that these public cloud solutions cannot deliver - security and control. (read more)

Controlling storage costs as unstructured data (files) grows remains a key concern for IT but unmanaged data growth has other implications for the organization such as compliance burden, security risk and operational costs. Further, as regulations become more defined and numerous, the holes associated with relying solely on looking at their file metadata to determine which data to retain and for how long to keep it become more pronounced. This is why more organizations are turning to Symantec's Data Insight to keep their storage costs under control while ensuring their data meets this complex set of regulatory requirements. (read more)

The keynote given by Symantec's CEO Enrique Salem this past Tuesday and the series of presentations that followed exposed every attendee at Symantec Vision 2012 to just how dangerous today's internet world really has become. Yet the larger threat that every business faces is not putting in place a solution to address them. Rather it is the danger that dealing with these threats will cause organizations to take their eyes off of the ball and fail to focus on where their business needs to go next. (read more)

Cost-effectively and efficiently managing ever-growing unstructured data stores is the next frontier that nearly every organization faces in storage management. But as they do so, they are coming to the realization that the IT staff who manage the storage and business owners who generate the data are not sufficiently engaged with one another to achieve these goals. Achieving a more structured, productive engagement between IT and business owners is what today's Symantec Data Insight 3.0 release enables. (read more)