EDITOR’S QUESTION
information are stored. It is set up in the more traditional way for
structured data. However, looking at the amount of data that enters
organisations up to 80% of this data is unstructured. This adds a lot
of complexity to manage and maintain
Diversity
The issue at hand here is the unstructured data and the velocity
with how it is created. Take YouTube for instance – 300 hours
of video are uploaded every minute of the day. In the world of
ecommerce, data is generated at a rapid pace and this is not
just related to the purchase, but also to how customers use
information for their own research in making choices in what they
buy and when.
On top of these issues there are still the problems related to cost,
infrastructure, security and connectivity. Most customers are not
yet ready to consider Cloud Data Storage as a solution to their
current on premises data storage issues. It is a case of currently
adding more hardware when in fact the problem might not be
solved with more hardware, but a different way of looking at the
problem for possible solutions.
T
his question is on the agenda for most organisations today.
Here are some of the biggest data storage issues facing
businesses today:
Data Growth
Most organisations face the dilemma of an increased amount of
data entering their systems from various sources. Data needs to be
stored in a specific way that will make it easier to be reached at a
later stage. If done incorrectly, it will add time and money to address
and organisations may lose their competitive edge
Complexity
Most organisations are geared for structured data and systems are
set up in that way. Think of the current databases where data and
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INTELLIGENTCIO
How do we look differently at the issue of data storage? Let’s
start at the most basic layer – the infrastructure. Data needs to be
stored somewhere. Most organisations store their data on SAN’s
(Storage Area Networks). This means organisations need to have
skilled IT engineers that can manage the network (LAN and WAN),
the SAN’s, servers connected to the SAN’s and data centres to
store all this infrastructure. The cost here can spiral out of control.
One of the easiest workarounds here is to use cloud storage where
organisations take advantage of the cloud providers infrastructure
to save them the trouble of having to set all this up.
A major headache for organisations, when it comes to data
storage, is security. Without the right controls, policies and
software to maintain data security, organisations are open
to hacks and unauthorised access to data. In a world where
everything is connected to everything it makes securing data an
expensive exercise. Data at rest must be encrypted. Once again,
it can’t be stressed enough, organisations are going to have to
have a tight control around their data and in some cases will need
to go the extra mile to make sure that their vendors and staff are
adhering to the security policies and standards.
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