To get started with storage as a service, consider e-mail. Because Exchange provides a journal interface for archiving, and e-mail has well-defined metadata in the header that can be used to set retention policies, a variety of providers have gotten into the act. Companies can implement online e-mail archiving with little to no capital expense in just a few days. In comparison, installing a fixed content storage system and integrating it with e-mail archiving software is a substantial project. This makes online archiving especially attractive to smaller organizations.
Zantaz's First Archive on Demand service leverages its EAS e-mail archiving system to provide an online service, while MessageOne and Mimecast take a slightly different approach, building integrated e-mail management services that provide continuity and message management for Exchange as well as an archive.
SIDEBAR: How Green Is My Data Center
For those concerned about data center power consumption -- and who isn't nowadays -- using green storage technology in the archive can reduce consumption compared with storing the same data on high-performance primary storage arrays.
Most archives will consume somewhat less power per terabyte just by using higher-capacity SATA drives in larger RAID sets, so they store data on half or fewer drives as a primary storage system. The SATABEAST and AMS arrays that Nexsan and HDS use as back ends for their CAS systems can spin down disk drives that aren't in use, and spin them back up again when they're accessed. The current version of HDS' Content Archive Platform doesn't use this feature, though it may in the not too distant future. This MAID (massive array of idle disks) technology can save 50% or more of the power needed to run arrays. Because compliance archives might be idle 16 or more hours a day, spinning down the drives should cut power consumption significantly.
Because optical disk and tape libraries use minimal power when they're not being accessed, they're even greener than MAID. The price is slower access times: A MAID system can take as long as two minutes to spin up its drives, though once they're up retrieving, any given data item takes a second or less. Every retrieval from an optical or tape library will take 5 seconds to a minute or more.
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