According to virtually every study, analysis, pundit, or perspective, the growth of file-based enterprise data is skyrocketing. Data is exploding exponentially in all industries, forcing primary storage and backup infrastructures to be continually expanded to keep pace.

This newsletter features a series of papers examining solutions to file-based data growth that protect data while being affordable and easy to integrate into existing environments. These include articles covering topics such as:

• Addressing the problem of inactive data filling up expensive active disk storage
• Extreme data growth shifting to file-based unstructured data
• Key technology for solving the problem of persistent data retention

The newsletter also includes the Gartner "Forecast Analysis: External Controller-Based Disk Storage, Worldwide, 2011-2015" which puts the entire problem into the context of the wider storage industry.

Long-term data retention is no longer just a matter of putting data tapes on a shelf. The extreme volumes of storage archives, the stringent retention requirements and the resulting infrastructure costs create serious challenges for modern IT administrators. This paper focuses on key technologies that can help reduce those costs while also ensuring long-term protection for data.

The Time Value of Data white paper digs into the growing problems of Back and Archive and the typical difficulties when those two are commingled in the midst of massive data explosion. By addressing the core strategy for creating an active archive, this paper will help IT managers understand how to apply the tactics used at the largest archives in the world on the day-to-day realities of their own environments.

Active Archiving is a concept of maintaining multiple tiers of storage in a virtualized online state. This enables users to perceive all the data as being online all the time, even as the data is migrated to more cost-effective platforms. This paper focuses on DMF 5, one of the world's highest performing tier virtualization tools and how its key technological features can help IT managers solve their problems.

SGI® InfiniteStorage DMF 5 is a significant tier virtualization tool that is used in large active archives all over the world. This paper provides a technical overview of the technology to help illustrate how this can be used to address the problems most commonly found in managing large volumes of data over the long term.

Everything you wanted to know about SGI storage but were afraid to ask can now be found in this limited edition book produced by SGI in conjunction with Wiley Publishers in London. Advanced Disk Solutions for Dummies is available for immediate download.

In it you will find not only a good backgrounder on the key storage terms and technologies in the industry today, but also some practical descriptions of how this technology is applied in real-world environments.

Written in the typical style of the Dummies Guide series, this book will provide you with a good overview of advanced storage concepts as well as reference to SGI storage products.