BridgeHead Adds Microsoft SharePoint Archiving

A new archiving product from BridgeHead Software helps ease the backup and storage cost problems created by rapidly increasing Microsoft SharePoint data.

“As much as 70 per cent of the content of a typical SharePoint system can consist of rarely accessed older items, including early versions of documents that quickly pile up as teams of users collaborate on document creation. Our BH ShareStore archiving software automatically moves inactive SharePoint data from expensive primary storage systems to a range of secondary media where it is managed and kept accessible to end users,” said Tony Cotterill, President & CEO for BridgeHead Software.

By cutting data volumes held on Tier 1 storage, BH ShareStore helps cut storage hardware spend while permitting faster backups that tie up fewer IT resources. It also means restores can be completed more quickly in the event of disaster.

“Unlike other SharePoint archiving systems, ShareStore is specifically designed to optimize backup. When static data is moved away from the primary store, the system’s advanced media management features let it manage multiple copies in multiple locations at the same time. This data doesn’t then need to be repeatedly backed up or replicated. In effect we’ve created a self protecting archive. The user now only needs to backup the smaller volume of active data that remains on primary storage,” added Jamie Clifton, Business Development Director, EDA for BridgeHead Software.

The system does not restrict users to specific secondary media to create the archive, allowing organizations to maximize their existing storage infrastructure investments. The BH ShareStore archive can be held on any combination of media including low cost disk, CAS storage and off line media.

The end users’ experience is unaffected by the fact that the data they are viewing could be held in the archive. They see and can access the archived data within SharePoint as if it were still present in the primary system. This whole process is transparent to the end user.

“We felt it was particularly important to maximize any benefits of the SharePoint tagging information which end users attribute to documents to define their value and usefulness. This information is carried over into the archive so that the archiving process can be defined by what the end user considers useful to know about a piece of content ,” said Clifton.

The tagging information and metadata related to documents can be used to create detailed management policies within ShareStore to control archived data in line with compliance, corporate governance or operational requirements. This includes setting rules on issues such as data retention periods, protection, encryption and access rights and final deletion at end of life.

“The media management features within ShareStore mean the software can automatically control where data is held and how it is managed in the archive throughout its lifetime – as its importance, business value or compliance status changes,” explained Clifton.

ShareStore can be purchased as a point solution to manage SharePoint archiving, or as part of BridgeHead Software’s modular enterprise data management offering which allows it to be part of a larger archive that includes a wide range of unstructured data from other applications as Cotterill concluded: “By using ShareStore as part of a bigger one stop archiving solution, you start to enjoy a real critical mass in terms of the data in the archive and hence its effect on minimizing storage hardware costs and optimizing backup and restore. By using a centralized archive, rather than multiple separate archives for individual data categories or business areas, you also benefit from management efficiencies by streamlining and simplifying processes, cutting complexity and duplication and improving control.”