Records and Retention Management using Big Data

Big Data, Data Management No Comments »

In recent years IT has been rocked by the advent of Big Data, new kinds of data coming from the Internet, using new technologies such as Hadoop and Map Reduce. So far IT has treated this largely as an exotic technology from the outside that has a lot of promise but that is separate from traditional company data and the systems and people generating it.

But is that really true? Today increasing numbers of work groups and and small companies are using online systems like Google Drive, Dropbox, etc., to share and collaborate on data of all kinds from written documents to photographs and videos, both for work and personal use. Google, one of the chief drivers of this often bottom-up movement in organizations, has a specific mission –to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. We all know the power of this vision; it is changing our lives. What we seldom think about is that these services are based on those same Big Data technologies and concepts.

So why can’t CIOs do the same thing with the large amounts of data that their organizations generate? Enterprises are experiencing dramatic growth in data, but often much of the data is stored inefficiently—which wastes resources and time. Clearly, enterprises are continuing to invest in more storage/infrastructure every year. For me, the case for Big Data as a repository for records and retention management is made. Think of the power of having an internal system that makes all company documents, videos, photos, etc., as well as traditional structured data, instantly available to whoever needs it (and has proper authorization to access it) from a central place accessible anywhere the Internet or corporate internal network reaches, on any device the user wants, at any time. And simultaneously protects that data from loss and ensures a single master version of the truth. It can be done with Big Data technologies.

The advantages of creating this kind of repository based on Big Data technology include:

  • No database licensing and maintenance costs: Imagine the money being spent on Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, etc. Open source technology eliminates that.
  • No Tier 1 storage costs: You can use standard SATA storage, even white box storage as the hyperscale installations do, instead of high cost storage from EMC, Netapp, IBM, HP, etc.
  • Choice of public or private cloud: If you choose you can eliminate CAPEX entirely and host your repository on Amazon or any of several other public cloud services. Or if you prefer, you can put it in a private cloud in-house.
  • No Backup/DR costs or issues: The way Big Data is organized, it eliminates the need for backup or administrative costs. And because it is available across the Internet it supports work from alternative locations in an emergency, as well as routine remote work.
  • Extended Analytics: Once corporate data, including semi-structured and unstructured documents, etc., are in a Big Data repository, it becomes easy to add third-party data such as weather data, link that to your sales & marketing, & extend analytics beyond your enterprise data.
  • And one final important advantage: Building and running this repository will allow IT to gain valuable experience with the Big Data technologies that clearly will be a big part of the IT future.

Imagine the world of enterprise data center in 2025. It will be vastly different. Clearly, Big Data will seep into every enterprise. This is perfect use case for getting a head start on that transition. If you are the CIO, who believes in this vision, reach out to us. We can help you.

Big Data, Cloud, Application Upgrades, Application Retirement, Data Warehouse, Disk Backup – Why I Love “Data Validation”

Data Validation No Comments »

Earlier this year, we moved our office to a new location. The move was painful. We realized just how much stuff we had accumulated over years, including many things we never use but were sitting around, collecting dust. We had to look at every piece of furniture, every server, every software CD, and decide whether we need it. The best part of that exercise was that we used it to teach our non-technical staff about database archiving and application retirement and how we do a similar exercise for data centers and applications.

Having gotten through the move, the year seems very encouraging. We are feeling good vibrations from multiple indicators, about an economic resurgence. We also started the year very well, announcing Solix EDMS SE – Data Validation.

I love this tool. It provides tremendous value to DBAs and application owners. Data is always moving. Think of Big Data, Cloud, Data warehousing, Application Upgrades, Migrations, Hardware Upgrades, Application Backups – you are constantly moving data. How do you ensure that the data has indeed moved correctly, and how do you automate the process of comparing a copy of a data set with the original to determine the accuracy of the copy?

Invalidated or poorly validated data is a huge issue. Imagine the inaccuracies in your analytical reporting and the decisions based on that. Imagine a disaster situation leaving you trying to recover your core database from the backup and realizing that that backup is incomplete or garbled. The impact on the organization could be enormous.

Data validation is the first step in assessing data quality, an analytic and domain-specific process to determine the quality of the data set. In general, IT departments handle this with custom scripts and custom programming. The news, with our new announcement is, you no longer need that. Check out Solix EDMS SE http://www.solix.com/company/news-events/press-releases/solix-technologies-inc-announces-free-data-validation-download/. This is a FREE tool that you can download now and start using across your enterprise today.

Mitigating Oracle Upgrade Risks

Data Management No Comments »

In the wake of Oracle Application de-support notices, many Oracle customers are planning upgrades. We all know they are always tense, even a minor glitch can have major impact on business operations and therefore the company.

The Oracle Applications User Group recently conducted a survey of members to determine the benefits they anticipate and the risks that give them the most sleepless nights. The testing process came out on top of those risks, cited by 63% of respondents. Just behind with 61%, was concern about staffing the upgrade. About half were concerned with bringing customizations forward into the new release, while 47% are worried about the downtime and disruption that the upgrade may create (see Figure 11 of the full report).

If those are among your concerns, I have good news for you. Solix can help you minimize or eliminate those problems:

  • Testing Process:Solix EDMS Test Data Management is designed to bring the efficiencies of automation to the creation and management of database clones, it automates database cloning and subsetting for automated creation of databases for testing, QA while reducing infrastructure costs and improving development cycles.
  • Staffing: As you bring outside firms to staff your project, how do you ensure data privacy. Solix EDMS Data Masking product can help you deal with the data security for your test environments. Any leakage of sensitive data by a careless contractor can result in significant legal fees, loss of credibility and brand loyalty and exposure of corporate accounts and strategic business information. In the case of regulated industries, such as medical and financial industries, a data breach is sure to result in government scrutiny and repercussions.
  • Customization: As you consider migrating your customizations, often it ends up as a complete re-implementation. Should you consider that, Solix EDMS Application Retirement can help you optimize that process. This can speed up the migration process as well reduce the licensing costs of maintaining two different application systems.
  • Downtime and Disruption: Applying Solix EDMS Database Archiving tools before starting the upgrade of your production environment can reduce the size of the database significantly and reduce the downtime for upgrade. Experts agree that as much as 80% of data in enterprise production databases for core applications such as ERP, CRM, and corporate financials is no longer in active use and slows application performance by as much as 50%. Much of this data, however, needs to be retained for compliance and business needs such as decision support and trend analysis.

More importantly, Solix EDMS Data Validation which is FREE to download, can dramatically improve your testing as you move your data to your newer ERP system, it can ensure data integrity. Overall, Solix EDMS has a strategic role to play in your Oracle upgrades. If you have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact us. We are always in your corner.

Announcing FREE Solix EDMS Data Masking (Standard Edition)

Data Masking No Comments »

According to Gartner Fellow and VP Joseph Feiman, static data-masking market has reached the midpoint of maturity, while the technology is mature, adoption lags.

Why, while most Enterprises recognize the value of data-masking technologies that it prevents security and privacy breaches and in meeting regulatory and compliance requirements for data protection, most end up in a dilemma whether to buy off the shelf Software solution or invest in Custom Built Solution. We believe, this is partly because that most companies view data masking as a simple process that can be accomplished through simple scripts and then end up doing nothing. In this brief video, Feiman points out that data masking is an organization’s chief tool for protecting highly sensitive data from improper access and use by authorized users such as software development and test team members and is a very critical tool to protect vital data at rest from both external and internal attacks.

We are offering this FREE Solix EDMS Data Masking (Standard Edition) because we believe that once enterprises start using this data masking tool in a few applications they will realize its value for data security and compliance, and their needs will quickly grow for Solix EDMS Enterprise Edition.

Data Breaches are continuing to rise, some noteworthy this year in Health Care sector, Utah Department of Health, Emory Healthcare, South Carolina Department of Health, Howard University Hospital and St. Joseph Health System. Recently, with our partner Allen Systems Group (ASG), we put together a webinar targeting Health Care SectorData breach announcements in the Healthcare Industry are commonplace. Is your organization prepared?

On another note, our partner Wipro has now archived approximately 15 Billion transactional business objects from a CRM and Billing application for a telecom giant using Solix EDMS Database Archiving. We have long argued that many enterprise production databases are clogged with huge amounts of historic, inactive data that costs the enterprise money and kills application performance. This figure provides evidence of just how valuable Solix EDMS can be for companies – imagine the ROI in backup/recovery and primary storage cost savings this company has achieved through Solix EDMS. And then add the potential savings from preventing potential theft of sensitive, private data through Solix EDMS data masking. This adds up to one inevitable business conclusion – if your company is still on the fence on Information lifecycle management tools, it is time to jump to Solix EDMS.


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