Information Lifecycle Management

Driven by the convergence of an explosive growth of content creation and an increase in regulatory responsibilities, there seems to be an endless thirst for storage. Based on a recent survey of more than 1,400 IT decision makers, Info-Tech Research Group estimated that the data storage market will grow by 35% in 2005, making it the number one technology priority, outpacing spending on servers, telephony and security software.

The explosive growth of data and the need to store and access it effectively are challenges that are here to stay. By implementing an ILM strategy, IT management takes a proactive step toward making information work for the organization in the most effective way possible. In summary, an effective ILM solution must provide: A solid set of business processes that are designed around the value of the data and the business needs tied to that data. Links between business-critical applications and processes and the adaptive storage infrastructure to ensure that the right data is available anywhere at anytime according to its business relevance-. An adaptive storage infrastructure that supports different classes of storage based on how the data is used during its lifecycle. Enterprise storage applications that are designed to simplify the management of complex storage infrastructures. In order to achieve an effective ILM solution that will adapt as business needs grow and change, you must include careful choices when developing your businesses ILM strategy before selecting hardware and software. Consideration must be given to an initial needs analysis, detailed project scoping, custom solution design, a security audit, administrator training, and ongoing services to ensure the correct operation and evolution of your solution according to the unique goals and requirements of your business. Using ILM to avoid legal and regulatory consequences is one side of the story. Those who implement these solutions will find that storing and managing information strategically supports a more agile, efficient enterprise. If we can t manage to get a handle on storage at home, we should strive to do better where the stakes are, admittedly, considerably higher. Source and full article: line65.coma>