Signiant Announces Active Archive Solution; ActiveArchiver Software Provides Long-Term Access to Project Data.

CHICAGO -- Signiant, the leader in remote data management, today unveiled Signiant ActiveArchiver(TM), the first file-based archive product designed specifically for design, development, research and project data. ActiveArchiver gives customers the ability to manage, access and retrieve historical design information for future re-use, customer support, regulatory compliance, or distributed collaboration.

Today's leading companies - especially those that research, design and build products - create large volumes of file-based electronic data on numerous systems throughout their development cycles. At certain milestones, the status of this information changes from being "work in progress" to "reference" data. Signiant ActiveArchiver collects these files into a single accessible, searchable, and immutable data set with guaranteed information integrity so that customers can easily leverage the information in future design cycles and free up expensive primary storage.

"Our customers have asked us to create a product that offers policy-driven automation of the archive and retrieval processes for their critical project data and to provide easy access to the archived data for their global employees. Customers are looking for multiple business benefits including storage cost reductions, improved information reuse, and long-term contractual compliance," said Robert Browne, Signiant's founder and vice president of business development. "We drive success by building solutions that solve our customer's critical business needs. ActiveArchiver is a valuable extension to our leading remote data management suite and it is already delivering business value to our largest customers."

"Information, now more than ever, is a vital corporate asset, and must be protected and preserved as such," said Peter Gerr, Senior Analyst with The Enterprise Strategy Group. "Signiant's ActiveArchiver product can help companies move towards a future where less money and manual effort is spent managing and accessing information, and companies can retain and leverage the value of their information throughout its lifecycle."

Intuitive Search, Automated User Options

Signiant ActiveArchiver is an ideal archiving solution for many business applications including electronic, mechanical, and software design data management. ActiveArchiver includes a sophisticated customizable metadata search capability that allows users to retrieve files, groups of files, or the entire archive, using "human definable" business terms such as project name, customer, or other intuitive keywords.

The active data archive process is automated through a web-based central control module. Users define the archive content, which may reside in multiple systems in development centers distributed around the globe, and then ActiveArchiver aggregates the selected files to the selected archive repository. Pre-processing can be performed as desired, such as organizing or compressing the files. The user also defines retention policies and access rights.

Reduces Storage Space, Cost

Once files are moved to the active archive repository and verified for accuracy and completeness, they can be automatically removed from the source, freeing up primary storage space for future design projects. This reduces the need for incremental storage acquisitions and also reduces the amount of data that needs to be protected and managed on primary storage systems.

File system attributes are preserved and ActiveArchiver guarantees data integrity through file "finger-prints" and digitally signed manifests. Initial ActiveArchiver customers are dramatically improving storage utilization and reducing management costs.

ActiveArchiver Robust Feature Set:

--Collection and Management

--Policy-based definition of archive data set

--Automated, multi-site aggregation

--High-end security model

--Storage and Retention

--Guaranteed data integrity

--Optimization through packaging, compression and single instancing

--Policy-based long-term data retention

--Search and Retrieval

--Customizable metadata wrapper 

--Find files using definable business terminology

--Retrieve single files, groups of files or entire projects

-- Management

--Centralized web-based administration

--Real-time monitoring and powerful reporting

ActiveArchiver is built on the same world-class feature/functionality as Signiant Mobilize, including support for all Windows, UNIX, Linux and primary storage systems involved in the transfer and aggregation process plus a range of storage repository choices: DAS, NAS, SAN and CAS; including EMC Centera.

For more information or to arrange an ActiveArchiver demonstration, please go to www.signiant.com, or write to [e-mail].

About Signiant Inc.

Signiant technology helps companies centrally manage and protect their remote data. Signiant software solutions provide a unified approach to remote data management. Signiant Mobilize(TM) technology is installed in thousands of deployments worldwide, helping leading companies slash the costs of managing remote data, and gain significant IT efficiencies in consolidated backup; centralized archive; automated distribution; and long distance disaster recovery initiatives. Signiant ActiveArchiver(TM) solves the long-term storage, management, and access problems associated with historical design data and other key intellectual property. Signiant is headquartered in Burlington, Mass. Visit us at www.signiant.com.

Signiant, Signiant Mobilize, and Signiant ActiveArchiver are trademarks of Signiant Inc.

All other trademarks are the marks of their respective owners.