Data, data, data. It grows and grows and grows. More than 45 Petabytes of important corporate data, growing at a 94 percent rate annually. By 2017, that means corporations may be attempting to house at least 325 petabytes (a petabyte: 1015 bytes).
Companies looking to retain data “forever” to support future analytics and “big data” projects may be in for a big surprise. Current data retention strategies are not built with “forever” in mind. They are limited in performance and longevity. With storage asset depreciation the single largest storage budget line item for many enterprises, a lack of capital to invest in new data storage is also inhibiting.
Another difficult inflection point for technology is that new ways of doing things need to be vetted – especially when the technology/IT department is impacted, a strategic change. How to best service the reality most companies will face is definitely all about the data. Ensuring we keep abreast of all the different devices that collect data generates such terms as version control, file synchronicity, access control.
Is Cloud computing the answer? Will it work within your organization? Will my data be safe, secure, available? What applications will work in moving over data? Will the cloud be the ideal home for data? These are questions that must be answered to your satisfaction before you plan to move data to the new technology.
The wave is upon us now, which is why we started ThinkOn, where data does not leave this country, eliminating any cross-border difficulties. Cloud-based data storage is an essential move that Canadian corporations must confront right now.
We are experts on disaster recovery and in our book, “Always On, the essential guide to disaster recovery business continuity,” we can tell you about some revolutionary disaster recovery ideas developed as part of the Always On™ framework, which powers the text. It’s a fundamental re-think of how companies can cost effectively deliver an always-on application experience for their bet-the-business applications.