Mimosa Announces Next-Generation File System Archiving

Mimosa Systems unveiled Mimosa NearPoint File System Archiving (FSA), a powerful archiving option that enables users to retain, retrieve and recover critical, free-range files alongside millions of emails, attachments, instant messages, and content from backup tapes stored in an integrated content-aware archive. Built on the award-winning Mimosa NearPoint platform, this new offering provides Mimosa customers with the most advanced content archive that addresses critical requirements for storage optimization, end-user information access, eDiscovery, content monitoring, and recovery in a single solution.

The widespread growth of unmanaged, free-range electronic files, such as Microsoft Office files, Adobe PDF files, and others, creates a critical challenge for enterprises trying to control storage costs, maintain content according to their retention and deletion policies, and find and preserve these files in the face of stringent discovery requirements.

Mimosa NearPoint FSA moves files from premium production storage to lower cost archive storage. FSA utilizes advanced stubbing technology that coordinates the use of network and backup processes while preserving the look and feel of the original file that was stored on the production disk. End-users can access the files as they normally would, while administrators see immediate benefits of storage reduction and optimized primary storage performance.

Mimosa FSA allows enterprises to significantly reduce storage costs while improving storage management and the backup efficiency of file servers containing thousands of free-range files. Legal staff can now rapidly search both files and email with a single search query, and preserve these files in place, lowering the cost of collection, and facilitating a quick export to downstream review or analytics applications.

"Mimosa NearPoint FSA promises to deliver advanced information archiving for retention, electronic discovery, auditing and access, further aligning our IT systems with core operational requirements," said Bruce Lorimer, Information Systems Supervisor for the County of Madera. "With the NearPoint archiving solution in place, we will be able to satisfy legal and operational demands for a more compliant and efficient organization."

Within organizations, users typically store content on a network file system because it is easy to do. However, this storage strategy makes central management very difficult because file systems are not managed content repositories with check-in services, search indexes, and version control. File system content presents a major challenge to organizations for several reasons:

• Production storage costs can soar out of control as users routinely store multiple copies of the same content.
• Retention and disposition policies are difficult to enforce, negatively impacting the cost and time to comply with an eDiscovery request.
• Locating sensitive information such as customer information, trade secrets and intellectual property that was saved to the file system before the organization had polices directing usage.

"Mimosa’s new file system archive allows organizations to store more information at lower costs while addressing retention and legal preservation concerns," said Brian Babineau, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "NearPoint FSA allows employees to access files as they normally would because administrators can leave stubbed files on the file system providing them seamless access to their information. Compliance officers and records managers are ensured that information is properly retained and IT administrators can easily configure and operate the solution with enhanced management capabilities.”

With Mimosa NearPoint FSA, administrators can:

• Manage production storage costs with policies that move files to lower cost archive storage devices based on attributes such as type, size, age, and last access date.
• Consistently apply retention and disposition policies across files, emails, attachments, and instant messages from one administrative interface.
• Maintain a seamless end-user experience with advanced placeholders that point to archived content while preserving the look and feel of the original files when browsing with Microsoft Windows Explorer®.
• Lower archive storage costs with advanced de-duplication across multiple copies of files—files that are sent as attachments and files contained on backup tapes.
• Expedite eDiscovery by searching and preserving relevant files alongside email and instant messages using a single search, and cull-down user interface.
• Lower risk by creating alerts for content at rest on the file system that was created before a policy for sensitive information was implemented.
• Enable faster, more granular file system recovery, and reduce the need to restore individual items from backup tapes.
• Avoid backup issues typically associated with first-generation file system archiving products by coordinating with the backup process to optionally protect content behind the end-user stub.

“NearPoint File System Archiving gives enterprises a powerful archive to take control of distributed file stores to reduce storage costs and retain, retrieve, and recover critical information to meet stringent compliance and eDiscovery requirements,” said T.M. Ravi, CEO, Mimosa Systems. “With the introduction of this solution, Mimosa provides companies with the most comprehensive and advanced content archiving platform for email, files, and instant messages stored in a unified repository.”

Mimosa Systems, Inc.