Legislation and how this effects storage strategies

The upheavals in the American Market a couple of years ago highlighted the need for Legislation and Regulations to protect core Organisation Information and History. In other words, organisations of all sorts have to be able to demonstrate not only that they have the right information stored, but also how this information has come to be where it is, and in the state it is.

Given the acknowledged current dramatic growth in electronic information of all sorts, legislation is going to be an additional unavoidable driver for new Storage Strategies.

One good example, which directly affects the Banking Community, is known as Basel II. This is a set of policy guidelines that put a legal obligation on banks to align capital adequacy assessments more closely with the underlying business risks inherent in banking. 110 countries have signed up for this new accord, which is due to take full affect in 2006. Key to compliance is an IT infrastructure that is consistent and integrated across entire organisations. According to The Banker magazine, this will cost each institution, on average, $200 million.

In the United Kingdom, a new Companies Bill was introduced to the House of Lords in December 2003. This deals with strengthened rights for Auditors to ask for information, strengthened powers to investigate companies, and a new corporate vehicle. Again this adds up to a new Storage Strategy that is company wide and has the support of the entire organisation, not just the IT department.

Whatever sector of the market you are in; the likelihood is that legislation will directly affect you in the near future. Legislation has the added weight of not being deferrable once a deadline is set, it is a deadline.

Infinity I/O has acknowledged this new situation by releasing the Storage Networks for Business one day Course. It is designed to increase the awareness of the whole Information Management issue and is aimed right across the board anyone from the CEO down who needs a basic grasp of the problems of this issue should attend. It uses straightforward language, is vendor neutral, and empowers those who attend to see exactly what the core considerations are.

Storage and retrieval of information is no longer a small part of an organisation. Typically, legislation has made this core to success, or failure.

The Storage Networking for Business course is run on a monthly basis at the Infinity I/O facility in Hartley Wintney, Hampshire. This course can also be run privately at customer premises.

Upcoming public course dates: 11 March, 7 April, 6 May. Call +44 (0)1252 847400 or eMail info@infinityio.co.uk for further information or to reserve a place.