Salvatore Salamone
The demand for increased storage capacity never seems to end. And this ever-increasing demand brings a need for tools to better manage the data.
The growing use of client/server applications and the downsizing of legacy applications to LANs are two prominent contributors to increased storage requirements. Today, companies typically store about 18 GB of data on their LANs (see the figure
"Growth of Corporate Storage Needs"
), according to Strategic Research (Santa Barbara, CA).
Additionally, data-storage requirements are increasing as users download files from the Internet. The size of downloaded files is also increasing as users download graphical files from the World Wide Web as well as WAV and AVI files, which can be
large. About 42 percent of users say they typically download files that are 2 to 5 MB in size, 19 percent say they typically download files between 5 and 10 MB, and 9 percent say the typical file size is between 50 and 100 MB. This is according to a survey of 300 users conducted for 3M by Fleishman-Hillard Research.
All this downloading and downsizing has sparked a demand for integrated data backup, restoration, and migration tools. Typically, PC and network utility software vendors developed such tools. But now, companies known for their data-storage hardware products are getting into the act.
Within the last year, Seagate Technology (Scotts Valley, CA) has acquired Palindrome (which sold data backup and management systems) and Frye Computer (which sold network and system management software). And 3M's Data Storage Tape Technology Division (St. Paul, MN) is working with developers to bring simpler data management tools to the desktop user.
Seagate's actions illustrate the trend to integ
rate data management with network management. Other companies, notably IBM and Microsoft, are also active in this field with their systems management efforts. Combined data/network management tools yield numerous synergies. One example is that you can link an HSM (hierarchical storage management) system to a network traffic-analysis product so that a large-scale file migration is delayed if a traffic-analysis tool senses the network is stressed. Additionally, if the two types of tools are linked, your backup program could monitor hard drive capacity and send an alert to a network management console when a disk approaches a threshold level.
In some ways, the 3M efforts target the other end of the scale: the desktop user. For example, one alliance 3M has is with Chili Pepper Software (Atlanta, GA), developers of Infinite Disk, an HSM-based file management package used with 3M's Travan minicartridge tape technology.
Most HSM packages on the market are designed for network administrators to use and
are fairly complex. But because Chili Pepper designed its program for the desktop user, Infinite Disk is easier to use than other programs. For example, one feature lets you designate how much hard disk space you need freed up when loading a large application. The program lets you enter the amount of disk space required by the application and then lets you specify how to move files off the hard drive. For example, you can specify TIFF and BMP files not used in 30 days.
Another desktop data management software product that will be available later this year comes from a 3M alliance with PGSoft (Pacific Grove, CA). The new utility lets you transfer, record, and play back data, audio, video, and other types of multimedia files without having to move them onto a hard drive.
Essentially, a tape drive appears as a "T" drive to the system, letting you click on a tape icon in File Manager to see what files are on tape or to drag and drop files in either direction (tape to hard disk or vice versa). You ca
n open any file on the tape as you normally would (as if it were on the hard drive). This feature is handy for CAD users who don't want to make room for a large file every time it's needed. Opening files off the tape drive is slower than opening a file on the hard drive, but 3M uses caching techniques to reduce the performance hit.
Data backup, restoration, and migration tools have been around for many years. But the complexity of many of the products and the continuing explosion in the amount of data that must be managed are prompting the industry to develop easier-to-use tools for both the network administrator and the desktop user.
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Coming: Better Data Management Tools
