Documents from productivity applications such as word processors and PowerPoint are the major contributors of old data, followed by e-mail. The problems caused by the generation of ever-increasing amounts of digital data are being exacerbated by a reluctance to archive or delete files that have not recently been accessed.
The research found that at over half of the organisations surveyed, 80 percent of disk-based data had not been used in the previous 20 days. Only 8.5 percent of survey participants said 25 percent or less of the data had not been accessed in that time.
According to StorageTek industry ambassador Robert Nieboer, organisations must realise that the value of data varies over time, so "we shouldn't treat all data the same".
The data lifecycle starts with creation. The immediate challenge is to protect the data by using techniques such as RAID, replication and backup. The next stage concentrates on distribution, for example copying information into data warehouses for efficient analysis. Distribution is followed by preservation -- moving the data out of service but keeping it for the period required by law or organisational policy. Finally, old and unneeded data should be deleted, preferably automatically according to agreed policies as people are reluctant to delete even worthless files.
The idea is that fresh data is used in revenue generation, so it is kept online. Middle-aged data represents cost -- not a revenue opportunity -- so it is kept on low-performance disk or nearline storage. Nieboer said old data is retained only for risk management (eg, tax auditing) purposes "in the fattest, cheapest [storage] I can find" or "in the safest place at the lowest cost" depending on the potential business impact of not being able to retrieve the data.
This can be summarised as 'the right data in the right place, at the right time and at the right cost.'
Nearly 90 percent of respondents used secondary (tape or optical) storage for backup, but only 56 percent used it for archiving and less than 15 percent used it for hierarchical storage management or similar.
According to Nieboer, simply throwing more disk space at the problem won't work because the "storage [needed] is growing faster than disk is getting cheaper," and IT budgets are either flat or shrinking. He suggested this means storage management becomes the key issue, yet the survey showed organisations ranked efficiency, cost control and the ability to add capacity as required ahead of manageability.
Manageability must come first, Nieboer said, otherwise it is not possible to achieve the others.
