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Welcome to our quarterly newsletter which this time focuses on archiving and backup. Information is critical to business, but not all information is equally important. Some data is mission-critical, requiring instant access at any time. Other data may need to be retained for years but need not need such direct accessibility.
As the data mountain grows for each organisation, it becomes increasingly necessary to look into options such as tiered data storage solutions where data of lower value is stored on lower cost technologies.
In this edition we're looking at:
- The role of tape storage today
- Tiered data storage
- Message archiving & retrieval
We look forward to helping you grow your business.
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| What's New at Trustco |
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| Budget Renewals
Many of our customers are currently going through the process of budget renewals. Trustco's consultants have great experience of a whole range of IT solutions. They are happy to advise on new technologies, what combinations work and can help you decide how to ensure your new budget can stretch to cover all of your business requirements.
Contact us to pick our brains!
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Trustco now offers:
- Configuration check - to ensure you have everything you need
- Same day emergency deliveries
- We check up on dispatches so we can pro-actively chase to ensure delivery
- We're adding even more configuration and engineering services
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| Archiving Issues at a Glance |
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What do you need to archive?
Organisations need to archive any information, transaction or correspondence that may at some time in the future be needed to meet business or regulatory requirements. Compliance is the issue that hits the headlines but plain, simple good record-keeping should be the core to any archiving strategy.
Application data
- CRM, ERP, Business applications
File system data
Email and Instant Messages
- Discussions, agreements, disputes, etc.
Data issues & approaches to resolution
Data volume growth
- Use existing storage more efficiently - virtualisation, move data to archival storage
- Align information with appropriate storage resources - low value data to low cost media
Budget
Availability
- Improve application performance using high-speed storage
- Migrate data to archive while online so there's no downtime
- Provide e-discovery tools and/or archive technology that moves information, leaving "stubs" in place
Storage virtualisation, Tiered storage and Specialist archiving products are approaches that can be used to address these issues. Please contact us to discuss your requirements with one of our storage specialists.
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| Tape Is Dead, Long Live Tape |
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 Data is the lifeblood of any organisation so the management of it should be of paramount importance. This is where storage comes into play. There are many types of IT storage available but tape is by far the most well-known and indeed deployed. But as the tape market has evolved over the past few years, what are the challenges facing businesses when selecting a storage strategy and how can they get it right?
Aligning storage with business need
Before selecting any type of storage it is important to understand that different applications and areas of business have different requirements. Many industries have regulations regarding the retention of data for a certain period of time which calls for a great deal of storage capacity and the ability to easily retrieve it on demand.
For many businesses, tape makes up the core of their storage strategy. At Overland, our own research indicates this to be true for 50 per cent of businesses, with over three quarters of those surveyed also seeing a future for tape storage...
Kevin Gosden, Channel Manager Overland Storage
Click here to read more...
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| Tiered Data Storage |
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Data storage growing out of control? How will your infrastructure cope?
 With data storage capacity requirements growing by around 30-40% in each of the past three years, the time to look at tiered data storage has arrived. IT managers widely acknowledge that the rapid rise of storage volumes cannot continue, especially when much of the data stored is of little or no business value. Often the sheer volume of data available clogs business processes, dragging down corporate efficiency and hindering regulatory compliance efforts.
Thin provisioning, content-addressable storage and de-duplication technologies all have their place, making more efficient use of existing or new storage capacity. Data classification and tiered storage approaches address physical storage problems but more importantly they reduce the volume of information that needs to be considered when querying the archive. It is this that helps the business to avoid sinking under the weight information overload.
Read more about tiered data storage and data classification...
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| Email Archiving |
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The practice of regularly backing up email servers is important as a means of being able to restore server data in the event of a failure. An email archiving system, on the other hand, is intended to capture email-borne information that is useful for corporate decision-making in the context of regulatory compliance and other purposes. Backups and archiving, then, are complementary activities, not substitutes for one another.
Email archiving is implemented for a variety of reasons, including
- Legal & regulatory compliance
- Storage optimisation - moving old messages to archive systems
- Knowledge management - long term data mining
- End user access to old information
Email archiving may be deployed via
- Software installed on in-house servers
- Dedicated appliances
- In the cloud archiving services
Read more about email archiving approaches...
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| Industry News |
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VTLs with de-dupe produce real ROI
The rapid maturation of virtual tape library (VTL) technology–specifically, the integration of data de-duplication into many of the systems–is elevating VTLs from platforms for speeding backup-and-restore operations into a source of significant cost savings in the data centre.
Click here for the full story
Autonomy launches policy-management platform
Autonomy Information Governance provides a real-time environment to visualise and control policy-driven information in organisations.
Click here for the full story
Google launches online security & archiving tools
Google has launched a range of web-based security applications for email filtering, encryption and archiving. The cost rises to £12.50 per user for the top version - Google Message Discovery - which also includes a year's worth of message data...
Click here for the full story
HDS unveils new Data Discovery suite
Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has introduced a new suite of Data Discovery solutions that it claims will allow users to dramatically improve the way they manage their data. Losing data or diverting resources for lengthy periods in order to retrieve it can be costly to all kinds of business, but HDS is convinced that its latest range of solutions can prevent these circumstances from arising.
Click here for the full story
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| Techie Corner |
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Vista 3GB Memory Limit
Vista32 shows only 3GB of memory when 4GB of memory is installed. Basically, like WinXP32, there is a 3GB barrier unless you are running a 64bit Windows OS in which the limit is 8GB. For detailed information on this, please click the link below:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605
Windows Server 2008 - This Spring?
Microsoft will release Windows 2008 Server as the direct successor to Windows 2003 Server in the spring of this year. The new server OS, code named Longhorn, shares the same kernel with Windows Vista and incorporates many additions compared to its predecessor.
Ready To Switch?
While upgrading to the latest and greatest operating system version tends to be a decision taken with due care, consideration and waiting for the first service pack, Windows Server 2008 has one major ace up its sleeve - the built-in virtualisation capabilities. An early upgrade may be a brave decision but the arguments for virtualisation are compelling - a decision to evaluate at an earlier stage than normal perhaps.
Click here to read more about Windows Server 2008 and its key features
Need Help Deciding on Tape Technologies and Backup Speeds?
Trustco's tape chart lists the key tape technologies alongside data rates, tape capacities and read/write compatibility - all for easy comparison. Download your copy now to help your decision making. Click here.
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Got Any Tips To Share?
We'd love to hear any technical tips you have. If we publish your tips in a future edition of InFocus we'll send you a bottle of champagne! Reply to this email or write to info@trustco.co.uk with your suggestions.
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For more information about Trustco or any of our technology solutions,
please contact us on 0870 160 1505 or visit this page for alternative contact details.
Trustco Plc is a leading provider of Servers, Storage, Communication & Security Solutions from the very best vendors. Our focus on dedicated specialist account management along with technical resources make us the supplier of choice for a wide variety of businesses across the UK. Our ability to traverse the direct, distribution & reseller channels enable us to retain our competitive price advantage and keep lead times down to a minimum without any compromise on quality of after sales care. Visit www.trustco.co.uk for further information.
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Trustco Plc / 12 Riverside Business Centre / Brighton Road / Shoreham By Sea / BN43 6RE
Registered in England, number 3476994. VAT number 704558241
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