Symantec Data Insight for Storage ($676/TB)

Symantec Corp. announced Data Insight for Storage to help organizations better understand and manage the growth of unstructured data, including files such as documents, spreadsheets and emails.

Data Insight for Storage provides visibility and control into the ownership and usage of unstructured data to help organizations reduce storage costs and align their information assets to business goals.

The solution was developed leveraging previously announced Data Insight technology and demonstrates innovation and integration across Symantec’s security and storage portfolio. Data Insight for Storage helps organizations promote accountability for storage consumption through a new chargeback process. In addition, it gives organizations the management tools to improve storage reclamation, archiving and data lifecycle management initiatives and policies.

Taking On Unstructured Data
According to IDC, the amount of storage capacity shipped in support of file-based storage is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 60.1 percent from 2008 through 2013. Pinpointing ownership, understanding data usage, managing data consumption, and how to protect specific data becomes difficult with the ratio of incoming file data overcoming the ability to maintain it.

With Symantec Data Insight for Storage, these stumbling blocks are removed and organizations can better control their unstructured data with the following capabilities:

• Effective Consumption/Chargeback: Symantec Data Insight for Storage allows IT managers to see who created, who utilizes, and who is responsible for data. Individual users can be mapped to a department or line of business for consumption reports or chargeback. This allows for improved efficiencies of storage consumption by giving IT the ability to hold business units accountable for the storage space they utilize.
• Inactive/Orphan Data Organization: By creating a simplified data owner identification process, orphan and dormant data can easily be located and organized. It creates candidates for reclamation, archiving or deletion processes thus creating a more efficient storage management practice.
• Data Utilization: Symantec Data Insight for Storage allows IT managers to make more strategic reclamation, migration, tiering and capacity planning decisions as well as help reduce capital expenditure with its storage consumption analysis reports and rich visualization of consumption patterns. Data Insight for Storage can also help organizations better understand these patterns to improve reclamation, migration planning and capacity planning decisions.

"For many organizations, data growth is uncontrollable not only from a management of infrastructure standpoint, but also from a policy standpoint," said Don Angspatt, vice president of product management, Storage and Availability Management Group, Symantec. "With Data Insight for Storage, IT managers can have the visibility and control of unstructured data, and also use the resources these files reside on more strategically."

Data Insight for Storage is available with pricing starting at $676 USD per TB. Multiple pricing models are available.