Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) Solutions

Mainframe systems used HSM technology successfully for many years before the concept was tried in the PC / server environment. As noted in this Computer Technology Review article, the original concept of HSM seems to have been adopted within a number of newer solutions; Information Lifecycle Management (ILM), Automated Tiered Storage and Automated Storage Management.

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"Over the last five years we have seen rapid growth in data storage, according to IDC, data center storage has increased 58% annually. This has been largely due to increasingly rich file content, electronic transactions, the internet, data retention legislation, and a general switch to a “save everything” mentality. Several studies show that the three most important aspects for data storage in 2010 are data backup, adding capacity and disaster recovery. Organizations are also battling with space and power issues. At the same time storage budgets are relatively static, so organizations whose typical response has been to 'add more disk' are looking for more effective methods.

"HSM solutions are now firmly in the mature phase, but that doesn’t mean they are old. Products offer excellent analysis tools to help decide what data is best to be moved. Simulation tools allow users to see how the network storage would appear after migration. Reporting tools offer graphical representations of data, sorted by file type, file size, etc. Alerts are now a standard offering, making administrators immediately aware of issues during migration."

Read the Full Story at Computer Technology Review