Gain Control Of Unstructured Content

IBM is offering a system that's designed to help companies manage their growing volumes of unstructured content and comply with government regulations regarding business data.

IBM's TotalStorage Data Retention 450, starting at $144,000, is a hardware-software package that includes its RISC-based eServer P615 and Tivoli Storage Manager for Data Retention software. The software lets companies verify the integrity of data by ensuring that it's not tampered with and set policies for storing data, such as setting expiration dates or requiring what data should be stored indefinitely.

The product is designed for companies that want to get better control of their data to comply with government mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and the USA Patriot Act.

Companies are scrambling to manage the increase in unstructured content such as E-mail, instant messages, and business documents, either to comply with regulations or to be able to access it for future business purposes. By the end of the year, unstructured information will surpass structured types of data such as database content in storage requirements, according to research firm Enterprise Storage Group.

IBM says its system can integrate with a variety of storage devices and content-management software, including its own. Says Nancy Marrone-Hurley, an analyst at Enterprise Storage Group: "IBM now has software on the front end for content management, plus a repository where you can move data around in accordance with retention policies."