Data Storage
The incremental growth of the internet for communications within and between companies has raised an important issue of where and how to store all the information being generated and to ensure it is safe and secure in the event of system crashes and other crises.
No-one wants to risk leaving essential company data in a stand alone situation on a PC - even the high capacity server is being re-purposed as a dedicated engine handling application or delivering database content rather than trying to do both.
At the Enterprise end of the scale (SME should read the information below) that's placed greater emphasis on dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) systems and specialised storage systems with a focus on RAID (redundant array of independent disks) which store the same data in different places on multiple hard disks for high availability and security.
But even that level of storage has proven too complex or expensive or lacks the capacity for many enterprises who's corporate memory is growing incrementally. Storage area networks (SANs), where essential data is stored off-site and Data Warehousing where utility organisations outsource capacity, are both solutions that can in a de-facto way provide secure back-up.
Why should you consider off-site storage?
Back-up requires more than wishful thinking or hoping someone else is taking responsibility. Ensuring your data is safe in a crisis requires forward planning which covers off the bases in a worst-case scenario. It's a fact of life that your network will eventually outgrow its current back up system and even as the board raises eyebrows at the cost they'll more than appreciate the investment when disaster strikes.
Increasingly it's the software rather than the hardware that makes the difference for back-up and storage solutions and businesses now have an array of options to consider when looking to take their next step.
In an interview with IDG, Whangarei District Council computer services advisor Bob Wolff says the main reason for installing a SAN is to ensure data is always available. "At the moment we have a number of servers with different amounts of disk on them. If any one of those servers malfunctions then the data is on those disks is lost until the system is fixed. The whole idea is there is no single point of failure.
Graham Penn researcher with IDC in Sydney says there's a continuing shift away from direct-attached storage to networked storage on specialised servers. Faster network speeds and the reducing cost of bandwidth and storage are reducing the cost of ownership as network storage software becomes more mature.
IDC says storage area networks (SANs) will make up 52% of New Zealand's external disk storage systems revenue in 2005, while dedicated storage devices attached to the network, will total 33%. Trends in the market include the tighter integration of storage networks and applications, the linking of storage networks into distributed networks, network management and the growth of storage service providers.
What issues need consideration?
As organisations become increasingly involved in supply chain relationships there's a growing need to share common data that is of mutual benefit to all parties and to ensure that data is safely stored and regularly backed up in case of emergency.
That's placing increased demands on the corporate data center and raises issues of systems management, availability, scalability, consolidation and security. Then there are differing vendor offerings, compatible platforms, business policies, security and how all the various parties in an expanding relationship might work together and adhere to common standards and overall business goals.
Like so many areas storage and business continuity and back-up need to be considered in line with a business plan with the current needs and future goals in mind. If you plan to outsource storage how will you manage it, how will that impact your IT systems, how confident can you be that your data will be backed up regularly and remain secure from intrusion or corruption.
In the past decade business continuity planning has evolved into a major concern for corporate and IT decision makers. According to the latest Gartner research the worldwide market for security software should reach $US4.3 billion this year, a jump of 18 percent over 2001.The market which is typically cyclical and dependent on the latest industry fears is now the center of IT attention.
David Thompson head of the New Zealand chapter of Survive International warns most New Zealand organisations will only act on establishing complete disaster recovery or business continuity plans if forced to by legislation or board directives. Such decisions must be driven by senior management and involve a thourough plan focusing on the processes required to restore systems and applications to required levels within predetermined timeframes.
Mr Thompson says organisations should know what they are backing up, ensure back-ups are aligned to disaster recovery and continuity strategies and that data is stored in a safe, secure, environment, preferably a reasonable distance from the main site. Accurate records need to be kept of what is backed up off-site. "Even high availability systems do not afford protection against a loss of a total site."
Increased information flow and the value of well organised and managed data places increasing emphasis on outsourced solutions such as storage area networks, data warehouses, back-up and disaster recovery systems.
Storage Analysts predict the growth in e-business and Internet type applications will increase between 300-800 per cent annually. This gives rise to organisations having to grow enterprise-type storage. Statistics, suggest on average, companies will buy as much storage this year alone, as they did in the entire history of their companies.
According to the Gartner Group, the worldwide market for SAN infrastructure will reach nearly $17-billion by 2005. And, as storage becomes more and more complex, companies are continually looking for simple, scalable solutions for managing these complex storage networks.
Gartner Group in its 'What Continues to Drive Storage Growth?' report of June 2001 says the worldwide RAID and network-attached storage market will grow annually by 18.4%, to $69.7 billion by 2006. The worldwide storage management software market will grow annually by 26.1%, to $16.7 billion by 2006.
SME Data Storage
We are all aware of the need to back up your business data, but as a small company there are often several issues:
Cost: Most businesses have outgrown the ability to save data on floppy disks and zip drive cartridges. The next step is to invest in either tape storage, extra hard drive or a re-writable CD-Rom drive and the storage media required for each. All up the initial and ongoing costs will be in the thousands. Ensure what you back-up is enough to secure all your necessary data (including financial records going back 7 years)
Time: Someone needs to take responsibility for doing the daily back-up, checking and changing the tapes and disks, as well as storing them off site each evening.
File Management: Back-ups are typically made of certain files and folders. However, if staff do not use these folders then data will be lost. A methodology needs to be put in place and checked regularly. Staff will need adequate training.
Internet Solution: Back-up your data daily using an Internet backup service provider who can automate the download and storage of your data into a secure facility. You need to be sure the service provider is secure both financially and from hacking and that your information will be available on a 24x7 basis (check guaranteed uptime and disaster recovery), but this service goes a long way toward the issues of time and cost discussed above.
Typical examples of this costing are in the area of $100/month per gigabyte, plus a small set up charge.
In Wellington, CityLink would be a good port of call for this service as they own their own high-speed bandwidth network and so can price for the transport of the data more competitively.
Other providers of this service include some of the more business focused ISP's such as ZeroOne
