Due to either pressures from corporate retention policies or compliance with industry regulations, more and more companies are requiring that their data be archived electronically, with geographic redundancy, in an easily accessible format that is not cost prohibitive to use. IMAGINiT Technologies sat down with Chris Grossman, vice president of Enterprise Applications at Rand Worldwide to get the details on RAND Secure Archive and what it means for companies using CAD for their designs.

CHRIS GROSSMAN: Data archiving is a methodology that allows companies to secure their most valuable and expanding asset, their electronic information, in an accessible, secure, and searchable format. At Rand Worldwide we are dedicated to helping our customers deal with the challenge of designing governance and retention policies around their electronic data, as well as providing a service through RAND Secure Archive that keeps their data secure and accessible.

CG: In the CAD arena it is common for companies to use PDM (product data management) systems to manage their design data. A PDM system consists of a database where all CAD users would commonly store their CAD files and allow for proper version control of their CAD data. The PDM systems would then allow a company to use standard backup devices to create backup copies of their data to reduce the risk for data loss.

However the environment for our customers has changed in many ways. First companies are increasingly looking to combine engineering files and share them with the rest of their team or organization. Additionally they are looking for ways to organize their information in "projects" or "programs" instead of the traditional methodology of using data silos for each department inside their company. Organizations now want to archive information in a relational based, co-located format, meaning that all data for one project is archived together, under that project name. This demand presents a significant data management challenge that data archiving can help address. With a data archiving solution such as RAND Secure Archive, all of your data is together, it is backed up and it can easily be searched and securely accessed.

CG: The challenge for companies is understanding what a PDM system was intended to do. PDM systems do an excellent job helping companies with their WIP (Work in Process) engineering data. As companies expand their use of relational CAD systems, the parametrics need to be managed and PDM systems serve as a good way to handle this information. However, when it comes to non-CAD files the PDM systems were not architected to properly handle this type of information. PDM systems were not built with the goal of having emails, IM's, VOIP, and documents, co-existing with CAD files. They were not intended for casual users who only access information through Outlook or Microsoft Office. In addition, key functionality that is important to enterprise members such as global intelligent search including fuzzy search, near term search, and related data searching is not available with PDM systems. When companies try to adjust their PDM systems to fit these requirements or implement next generation PDM systems where this functionality is claimed to be native, it typically results in systems that are very complex with a high cost of ownership. With today's data archiving solutions, there is no longer the need for this type of complexity and investment.

Many companies that have adopted PDM systems or that decided to stay away from it altogether, now have the opportunity to do archiving with a system that has enterprise level capabilities at a very low price point. Data archiving and management does not have to be complex or expensive like it used to be. I believe that the role of the PDM system is to help CAD departments manage their relational CAD files and that archiving is done most effectively from a cost and a functionality perspective, in a dedicated archiving system.

CG: Some of the most common mistakes that we see customers make with their current systems is that they assume because their information is in a "vault" or database that it is safe, secure, and accessible. Many of our customers fail to consider that even though their data is stored in applications like SharePoint, Outlook, or a CAD PDM system, companies still need a strategy towards universal search as well as making sure their data is properly backed up. So when hardware fails, or information is unintentionally deleted, they often realize that the process for putting that data back online is either very time consuming or not available at all.

Another factor that people underestimate is the overhead required once the database grows in size. Many companies have set retention policies lasting years or even in some cases lifetime retention policies for their data. In addition, they have increased the file types that they are retaining. This has increased the amount of storage needed for their existing systems which can affect performance of the system dramatically. To combat this problem, customers have made the difficult decision to move information onto storage devices and out of the active systems. This impacts the availability of data to their users whenever any legacy information needs to be accessed.

A data archiving system working in conjunction with our customers' existing databases can help solve the problems listed above while improving overall data visibility. It can provide a secure database where information is always being updated and stored both securely and redundantly as well as provide companies with a location for legacy data that is both available to the users but outside of the burden of the local systems.

CG: Some of our customers are in the process of implementing their first database system and are trying to understand how to deal with their legacy data, and many of our customers are now on their 2nd generation systems - 2nd generation asset management, 2nd generation information portals, 2nd generation everything - which leads to a significant decision for them because often times the most expensive part of a new system installation is the decision on what to do with their legacy files. Integration is the best path but is often very expensive. Choosing not to integrate the systems means that users will be left with an environment where they cannot perform universal searches and access their old files. When this occurs, the data governance policies of a company become very complex in order to deal with this sacrifice in functionality.

With our RAND Secure Archive product, both experienced and new customers to database systems will enjoy improved accessibility to legacy data, without the need to go through the costly process of migrating it to a new system.

Companies don't often deal with their legacy data but they still need it. And when they need it, it is urgent. RAND Secure Archive allows you do this at a low price point. We have over 100 data connectors that have been established. RAND Secure Archive is based on the industry leading Autonomy data operating layer (IDOL) and archiving platform which allows for fast, secure and complete meaning based search and categorization of data, regardless of the size of the archive.

CG: Two major trends have affected our customers more than any other. First the amount of electronic information being created today is more than ever before. Our customers are creating more CAD files, sending more emails, developing more documents than any time before. The second is that the relevance of this electronic data for data reuse and legal perspectives is greater than ever. These two factors have created an environment where the capability to process this increasing amount of data, that needs to be accessed and used by more and more people in the company, has put a strain on the systems and the resources of IT departments.

In addition, our customers are creating more defined retention policies. These policies are necessary for the management of all the electronic data that our customers are creating. Companies want to keep data for a certain timeframe as governed by these policies, they want to control access, and most importantly they want the ability to audit this information, freeze files when needed, and comply with external requirements such as FRCP (Federal Rules of Civil Procedure) guidelines. These rules are difficult to implement without an archiving system in place.

From a cost perspective, data archiving allows you to store data at a lower cost. Without data archiving, projects and content that are most relevant (CAD files, emails, project plans, etc.) get stored on local servers. These servers are the most expensive of all the IT systems you have. Companies will typically then move this data to an offline storage system after a given period of time which means you now have a separate system that is not universally searchable by all of the unique users. The end result is searches that are either incomplete or limited to basic filename searches and time is lost through the manual restoration of archived information.

With RAND Secure Archive you get a remote storage option with a web interface that is easily searchable and you can retrieve things on demand. There is unlimited access to data without burdening your server. This is very relevant for engineering files which are incredibly large in size and are often the first files slated to be stored because of their size. RAND Secure Archive presents a way to store them without the expense. Individual users have access to archive and search their own data, based on rules as defined by IT.

CG: RAND Secure Archive offers both a hosted, private cloud based solution and the option to host on premise. Another hosting option could be a hybrid of on premise and private cloud based hosting. With RAND Secure Archive we use the term private cloud because although the archive is not at our customer's location, it is at a private, secure, facility that offers optional private VPN access to your data. In this way our customers achieve the benefit of outsourcing their data archive without losing control of their data. This environment is what we describe as our private cloud.

One of the common myths about archiving in the cloud is that your data is going to take forever to download. This is not true. Your files are still saved locally and will be archived given the parameters set by you. Data is not published to the cloud at the end of each day; you are still locally working and saving your files. But the backup, should you need it, is there. There is no real disadvantage to using the cloud for hosting this type of data. This is a major misconception. You keep your data, RAND Secure Archive is simply implemented into your environment where data gets ingested to create a geographically distributed redundant copy of your data. There is no change to how engineers work with their data and it does not add any steps to their day to day work. With the flexibility to use active directory to perform authentication through the private cloud, permissible users will be able to interact with the archive as easily as they do files on their local system. Again, it is a flexible solution that is very cost effective.

CG: In the engineering space we deal with many types of data. RAND Secure Archive allows over 1000 different file formats to be archived. The RAND Secure Archive tool can archive proprietary data files and those file types can include: Instant Messaging, email, VoIP recordings, CAD files, etc.

SharePoint is commonly the standard collaboration platform within a company for inter-departmental communications. However the biggest drawback to SharePoint is that it is not a true data repository, which means that the system is not something that can scale very easily when a lot of project data is entered. In addition the search capabilities are often limited. RAND Secure Archive allows you to backup your SharePoint data allowing your system to scale, as well as provide industry leading search capability.

CG: The heart of data archiving is about much more than data backup. You need to be able to search legacy data, you need to have it in a place that is easy to access, it needs to be secure, and you need to be able to control its lifecycle. It is all about data management and having your data reusable without the high cost of ownership that the PDM environment required.

RAND Secure Archive allows you to archive your data but also to always have that data available at your fingertips should you need it. The data archiving market has shifted from being driven by disaster recovery, now customers are looking for archiving systems to add functionality to their environments whether it is universal searching, e-discovery, legal services, or more efficient data backup.

Contact Chris Grossman
Rand Worldwide
Vice President Enterprise Applications
cgrossman@rand.com
O: 703 542 5476
C: 703 501 6182