Information lifecycle management: the next wave.

Information lifecycle management (ILM) is the latest paradigm-shifting concept to come out of the storage market, and is being viewed by IT managers as a valuable technology to manage data.

Like HSM, ILM can provide significant cost savings to the enterprise. By most estimates (Forester Research, IDC, Gartner), as much as 80% of an organization's unstructured data is infrequently accessed, making it a prime target for migration to tape. Performing this migration will provide the following benefits:

* Tape media is at least 50% less costly than disk capacity; more so, depending on the types of disk and tape

* With 80% of the primary capacity freed up, the organization may not have to add new disk devices for several years

* Tape libraries require far less power and cooling resources than disk arrays, and still require less foot-print in the data center

* With 80% of your data already on tape for the long term, the amount of data subject to daily and weekly backups will be significantly reduced. Backup windows can be reduced, enabling greater system uptime and higher business productivity.

Where Did ILM Come From?

ILM is actually an evolution of the decades-old hierarchical storage management (HSM) model. HSM recognizes that the value of data decreases over time, and that by migrating older data to less-expensive storage media, organizations can reduce costs and make better use of their more expensive primary storage resources. HSM software provides policies for automatically moving data files from primary storage to secondary (and in some cases tertiary) storage resources at a predetermined age and/or when other attributes of the file meet the desired requirements for migration.

In bringing ILM to market, tape storage vendors are addressing two areas. ILM recognizes that not all data from all of today's applications fit into the simple HSM model. Some data is of less value when it is originally captured than later in its lifecycle. For example, financial records may not be needed when they are generated, but become very important and active when preparing end-of-year tax returns. Some files from some applications may need to stay resident on fast disk for a number of years, while other less-frequently accessed files from the same applications may be better suited to less expensive automated tape libraries. ILM allows administrators to specify any number of migration points in a file's lifecycle, to and between any of the storage resources available.

HSM by nature cannot take full advantage of networked storage. HSM vendors have adapted their products to work in SANs, but they still require that data be moved from Point A to Point B, and Point B to Point C. ILM sees the storage network as a contiguous 3-dimensional pool, with the length and width representing the different technologies and devices that encompass the network, and the depth representing the capacity of each of these devices. ILM takes full advantage of the network, allowing files to be moved between any two devices at any time in the file's lifecycle.

Business Drivers

ILM is important to address newly introduced regulations. The implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA, and countless other global government regulations that specify data retention requirements has left enterprises grasping for any type of tool that can help them meet these mandates and avoid fines, lawsuits, and even criminal prosecution.

Enterprises have done a great job of wringing costs out of their operations, leading to impressive gains in productivity and profitability. They are now looking for the next layer of cost-cutting opportunities, and ILM may be well suited. By moving a majority of older, fixed content to the least expensive storage resources (e.g., automated tape libraries), significant savings can be achieved from storage acquisition and management budgets.

Storage vendors are collaborating on solutions to address ILM requirements. Not since Storage Area Networks were introduced in 1998 has the storage industry come together as a whole, like this, over a single concept.

Is ILM Ready for Prime Time?

While ILM will change the way enterprises manage their information assets, there are issues to be worked out by the vendor community. Regulatory compliance and on-going cost-cutting may give this effort a boost so that ILM implementations can be installed within this year.

In evaluating a possible ILM implementation, enterprises should try to keep the following in mind:

Data Classification: The key to a successful ILM implementation will be determining which files go where and when, to build the policies that will automate the process. These policies must be business related, reflecting the nature and character of the business that's being supported. Given the hundreds of applications and the range of lifecycle parameters required for each, creating a process for classifying and tagging data files will be a daunting task.

Interoperability: Vendors are offering new products to take advantage of the ILM model and seeking testing to assure its compatibility with others. It will take time for vendors to integrate and test storage hardware and software from other vendors, so "all-in-one" solutions may be a better investment for now.

Proprietary Metadata: Since we're talking about the long-term retention of some data, it is important to look at the way the data is stored and indexed within the ILM environment. While there are standards available today for interoperability of devices, and new standards are being implemented for storage management, there are no standards for data management. Understanding the implications of using a proprietary data management system, and planning around it, should help to avoid a costly disaster a few years from now.

Legacy Data Conversion: Be sure that an ILM solution will be able to address the vast majority of your data--the data that's already stored in your storage network. Some ILM solutions only work with new data and can only bring empty storage resources into their environments. You will need a plan to migrate your legacy data into the new system, and for freeing up your existing resources so they can be added to the ILM pool.

Information lifecycle management is a new technique for managing data. It will change the way organizations retain data for the long term and allow such data to be kept in secure automated tape libraries. Data management standards will be driven with the assistance of the industry professionals to define ILM metadata, and vendor alliances and partnerships will continue to evolve to develop heterogeneous ILM solutions.

In the meantime, enterprises that are not willing to jump into ILM just yet can still rely on several available HSM and data archival software products to help them manage their long-term fixed content and meet the compliance demands of government regulations but look to migrate that system with ILM in the future.

"Tape continues to be the most cost-effective technology for storing large volumes of archival data," said Robert Abraham, president of Freeman Reports. "Magnetic disks work well in applications requiring faster data retrieval in the near term, but do not provide secure long-term storage. Virtually all disk-to-disk backup installations rely on tape as the final depository of data for long-term storage. Optical disks provide fast file-level access for archival applications, but are not effective for near-term storage because of its higher cost."

According to Abraham, current professional-grade tape media products will retain data for at least 15 years, meeting virtually all data retention regulations. Several tape technologies also offer the permanence of recording of write-once operation.

"Furthermore, unlike tape technologies of the past, today's advanced tapes do not need to be periodically rewound to prevent data degradation," continued Abraham. "Tape combines low cost with security and continues to be the technology choice for massive data storage, whether near-term or long-term."

Richard Harada is president of the Tape Technology Council (Hillsdale, NJ)

www.tapecouncil.org