Bits 'n' PCs

PLASMON, specialist in data archival storage, in conjunction with Cohasset Associates, consultants in electronic record management, has published a White Paper entitled, Trustworthy storage and management of electronic records—the role of optical storage technology. It positions the prominent role that optical disk technology plays in archival storage environments and examines how the write-once properties of optical establishes and maintains accurate, reliable and trustworthy electronic records.

The findings identify key elements, components and controls that define data ‘trustworthiness’ and outline the primary considerations for an archival storage strategy. Some of the issues addressed include:

Establishing Trustworth-iness: The fundamental requirements of electronic record legislation designed to ensure authenticity, availability and accuracy. Failure to comply with these requirements risks incurring substantial cost and penalties.
Challenges to Trustworth-iness: The use of a durable storage media. It is not only the threat of corruption of the records themselves but the processes by which the records were managed including creation, retention, reproduction and migration.
Chain of Custody: Companies must be able to provide a chain of custody or audit trail covering each record’s lifecycle as evidence that no unauthorised alteration has occurred.
Trustworthiness over Time: The longer a record is retained, the greater the challenge in ensuring trustworthiness. Inherent dangers are risk of data loss, exposure during migration and disaster recovery procedures.
The Electronic Records Chain of Trust: Strategies that can be applied to safeguard the integrity of electronic records. The Chain of Trust combines these strategies to create a trusted archival storage environment.

The White Paper also touches on next generation 5.25-inch optical drives and media based on blue laser technology as the next logical step in the evolution of optical storage. This new technology will greatly increase optical media capacity and dramatically reduce cost.

Plasmon Data Ltd, Whiting Way, Melbourn, Herts. SG8 6EN. Tel: 01763 262963, fax: 01763 264444; www.plasmon.co.uk; e-mail: stewart@plasmon.co.uk. Contact: Stewart Vane-Tempest.

GROWTH in the UK public sector software and IT services (S/ITS) market will be at least 30 times faster than any growth in the commercial sector to 2005, according to a new report by Ovum Holway, the leading UK S/ITS analyst.

Ovum Holway forecasts the UK public sector S/ITS market will grow by an average of 9 per cent per annum between 2001 and 2005 to reach £7bn in 2006. In contrast, the UK commercial sector is expected to grow by an average of just 0.3 per cent in the same period. The government presents a huge opportunity for software and IT services suppliers but it hides important discrepancies between its various departments.

Ovum Holway’s report, UK public sector market 2003: the market for software and IT services, examines each of the major public sector market segments. According to Ovum Holway, the two most lucrative S/ITS markets, the criminal justice and the NHS, will grow by an average of 25 and 20 per cent respectively from 2001 to 2006. Both these sectors will benefit from substantial government investment in IT having previously suffered from years of ‘under-nourishment’.

The prospects for the UK education S/ITS sector are less appealing. Education experienced a two percent decline in S/ITS spend in 2002 and is not expected to achieve more than a 2 per cent annual average growth through to 2006.

In addition, the public sector is making a concerted effort to attract a broader range of suppliers, favouring bids from consortia. This ‘multi-sourcing’ approach favours all types of supplier. The mega players such as BT, EDS or Capita are able to take the lead in the consortium and may offer to undertake the project management role or take the financial lead on the project. Smaller best-of-breed or niche players with invaluable knowledge of the sector, for example, health, niche technical skills or targeted application software will not be short of offers to join consortia.

The UK e-government agenda is wildly ambitious and it remains to be seen how successful it will actually be. However, vast sums of money will be spent over the next five years, and it will be spent a lot more freely than in the commercial sector. As such, S/ITS suppliers cannot ignore this sector of the UK market.

Ovum Ltd. www.ovum.com

IM@T Online July 2003