Kroll Ontrack tackles cost and risk associated with legacy data management through the launch of Ontrack DataAdvisor

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Organisations are increasingly burdened with legacy data management protocols and the high cost of maintaining multiple legacy systems to ensure data access for legal or regulatory requests.

In response, Kroll Ontrack today announced the launch of Ontrack DataAdvisor, a data management solution that consolidates backup catalogues from various systems and mediums into a single, searchable inventory, eliminating legacy maintenance costs and providing clear insight into legacy data.

Paul Le Messurier, Programme and Operations Manager at Kroll Ontrack, said: "It's not uncommon for a client to tell us they've got 100 ten-year old backup tapes in a storage room and are unsure of the information contained on them – a recipe for risk disaster. Because regulated industries like banking and healthcare need to keep and maintain access to regulated data for a period of time for legal reasons, they are compelled to not only retain the physical tapes, but also the expensive legacy systems needed to restore tape data. Ontrack DataAdvisor solves these challenges by aggregating legacy backup catalogues from all systems into one easy-to-search inventory. As a result, organisations not only reduce risk by knowing precisely what data is stored in their tape archive, Kroll Ontrack can restore targeted data as needed allowing organisations to essentially decommission legacy systems outright."

According to a recent Kroll Ontrack global survey of 720 IT administrators, 37 per cent of organisations run more than one backup system concurrently, adding significant cost and complexity to their data management practices. Further, 34 per cent of organisations store and manage more than 100 tapes, and more than over 50 per cent plan to replace their backup system in the next two years, effectively creating new legacy systems to manage.

Paul Le Messurier added: "When the current system becomes the legacy system, which for many organisations means they are now strapped with multiple legacy systems to maintain, the time is ripe to evaluate legacy data management strategies and make informed, cost-effective decisions around data access, retention, migration and deletion. With 43 per cent of survey respondents looking to terminate their maintenance contracts for their legacy storage systems, it's clear that organisations are seeking ways to better manage legacy data and phase out legacy systems to reduce their overall IT maintenance costs."

To create the searchable inventory, Kroll Ontrack ingests catalogue information directly from backup tapes or from an exported catalogue database file. Catalogue data is then hosted in Kroll Ontrack's secure global data centres, while physical tapes are stored with Kroll Ontrack or a third-party vendor or returned to the client. When needed, Ontrack DataAdvisor clients simply search the inventory to identify targeted content and request restores for only what is needed.