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Is Real ILM Possible?

By Alice LaPlante

Managing data effectively has always been a major challenge for businesses. How do you capture it? Store it? Process it? Access it? What do you do with it once its immediate usefulness to your organization is gone? And, naturally, how do you accomplish all this at the lowest possible cost?

Today, the darling theory of many IT managers, analysts and consultants is Information Lifecycle Management, or ILM. ILM solves all these problems and more -- at least according to its advocates. But critics believe that the technologies, much less the mindset of IT professionals and users, means that ILM is not quite ready for prime time.

"Is it possible?" asks Steve Dupulessie, senior analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc.  "Yes. Is it realistic? No."

ILM Defined
First, what is ILM? Although definitions abound, it's generally agreed that ILM is not a technology per se, but a set of management processes supported by technology that attempt to manage how data flows through a business, from the time it is collected until the time it is no longer needed.

Using ILM to manage costs is a major part of the picture. The expense of collecting, storing and managing data over its entire lifecycle must somehow correspond to its value to a business.

"ILM is really about taking a business view of information and developing the appropriate infrastructure to enable it, and in the process, reduce costs," says Jeff Porter, chair of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Data Management Forum. 

Regulatory requirements also play a part. By ensuring timely access to data -- both current and historical -- enterprises can more easily comply with legal directives such as Sarbanes-Oxley and perform audits or respond to other external demands to produce data in a timely manner. (article continues)

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