The Storage Solution
Do you know where your data is?
Published February 2007
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE
PRINTER FRIENDLY
COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLEData storage is hardly the sexiest subject in technology. But it may be the most important. A data catastrophe--a debilitating virus, a failed server--can be devastating to any business, especially a small one. Traditionally, companies have used tape backup to handle data. Tape is still the cheapest way to go, but it is hard to manage and often ends up stored in a warehouse someplace, making retrieval a long and laborious process. Perhaps that explains why 38 percent of small companies do not have a data backup policy in place, according to IDC, a market-research firm. Backing up your data is a chore, but an array of new tools make it easier than before.
Best for… Protecting your e-mail
Lighthouse E-Trail Digital Archive Lite
What it is: Software to archive and organize electronic mail.
What's cool: The software, which can be loaded onto your servers or accessed via the Web, is compatible with nearly every e-mail system, operating system, and database. Using e-mail compression techniques, like eliminating duplicate information, it can reduce storage needs by 75 percent.
Drawbacks: Lighthouse is hardly what you'd call plug-and-play. You need to manage it to make it work--which could be difficult for companies without an IT staff.
Price: Lighthouse's Lite version archives 50 mailboxes for $1,800. Or Lighthouse will host your data for about $10 per employee per month, plus $1.25 to $1.50 per gigabyte per month.
Best for… Giving your current system a boost
LeftHand Networks SAN/iQ
What it is: A common data-storage problem is that one department's server might have a full hard disk while servers for other divisions have plenty of room. SAN/iQ software lets businesses take all the hard disk space on their servers and create more space for the entire network.
What's cool: It takes as little as an hour to get up and running, especially rapid for storage-management software, which is notoriously difficult to set up.
Drawbacks: Companies with fewer than six servers might find this technology is overkill. It also requires technical skills that many companies may not have in-house.
Price: A single node that supports up to 1 terabyte of data starts at $11,795.
Best for… One-stop storage
NetApp StoreVault S500
What it is: Storage hardware and software that attaches to your network.
What's cool: While many storage systems are optimized for one kind of data or another, the StoreVault S500 handles pretty much anything thrown at it, which makes it attractive for any business that uses different systems (say, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Linux, and Windows).
Drawbacks: This box could be too much for businesses with only one location. You'll have to buy a tape drive if you want to make archival tapes. For continuous data protection, you'll need to add another piece of software.
Price: $5,000
