Streamlining
Information
Management
The Strategic
Solution
Shekhar Dasgupta,
President and
COO, Solix Technologies
talks to Dominic
K on the solution
that offers
online data
archiving to
help restore
application
performance
across the enterprise.
The demand for
such a solution
is growing,
thanks to various
compliance and
stringent regulations
such as SOX,
HIPAA and BASEL
II.
Brief
us on Solix
and the various
solutions you
offer for enterprise
data management?
Solix is in
the business
of enterprise
data management.
Our solutions
streamline information
management and
automate data
storage and
retrieval and
we are headquartered
in Sunnyvale,
California and
we have a development
centre In India
at Hyderabad.
We are a private
limited company.
As far as our
solutions are
concerned we
started with
archiving and
this is basically
for customers
who have enterprise
applications
such as Oracle,
DB2, SQL Sever,
People soft
or custom built
applications
and typically
the data goes
through various
tiers and the
application
performance
degrades. Due
to this enterprise
architects prefer
to remove such
data and migrate
it on tapes.
But due to compliance
and various
regulations
they realise
the need and
importance of
long-term data
retention. So
from tape we
recommend them
to archive it
and keep it
online.
That's how we
started out
our business
and solution
known as 'Archivejinni'.
It solves compliance,
cost & performance
requirements
with advanced
archiving technology.
From configuring
and executing
custom archiving
routines to
instance subsetting
for development
and testing.
Rediff is one
of our customers
to deploy this
solution.
The online archiving
is for unstructured,
semi-structured
and structured
data all with
in a single
platform. The
solution restores
application
performance
by up to 50
percent by relocating
inactive data
from your production
database to
a secure online
data archive.
What
is Subsetting?
Instance Subset
creates smaller
subsets of a
production instance
for test, development,
patching, training
and outsourcing
to significantly
reduce data
duplication
and infrastructure
costs.
So is the platform
based on open
standard or
on Solix proprietary
platform?
The platform
is based on
Java with a
three-tier architecture.
The front end
is always a
browser as the
solution offered
is online. We
support multiple
browsers, which
form the tier
one. The second
tier is the
application
server while
the third tier
is where the
data resides.
Any changes
made in the
production instance
are automatically
reflected in
the archived
instance and
organisations
can restore
data whenever
they need it.
How about the
security aspects
since the archived
data is now
exposed online
and might be
vulnerable to
attacks and
other threats?
Well. Most of
the customers
keep their production
databases very
secure. The
moment it comes
to non-production
databases there
is a tendency
to get lenient.
Our data security
is a powerful
standalone module
that uses a
metadata driven
knowledge base
built to meet
the increasing
data protection
needs of the
global enterprise.
What we do is
based on algorithms
that secure
the production
databases as
well the multiple
copies created
on various other
sites and locations.
It encrypts
sensitive information
in non-production
database for
protection against
inappropriate
visibility.
It uses unique
combinations
of the latest
data encryption
and masking
technologies
to protect enterprise
data from intrusion
and to meet
the full range
of regulatory
standards. This
extensive feature
is application
aware and ensures
integrity of
the application
and database
while protecting
the data against
unauthorized
use.
Tell us more
on e-Discovery?
We have tied
up with Google
for enterprise
search and it
pulls out the
required data
from the enterprise
databases as
and when the
need arises.
The platform
we offer is
known as e-discovery
or electronic
discovery.
By integrating
Google advanced
search and indexing
techniques,
Solix next-generation
unified ILM
solution will
enable users
of the Google
search appliance
to access all
kinds of enterprise
data.
Enterprises
will have the
ability to search
structured data
from packaged
and custom applications,
semi-structured
data, such as
email, and un-structured
data, such as
documents. These
documents and
data can be
three to five
years old. This
integrated system
will empower
secure, enterprise-wide
searches irrespective
of the data
source or whether
the data is
active in production
systems or has
been archived
to an online
storage repository.
That sounds
interesting.
I believe to
achieve this,
the search engine
will have to
penetrate the
various enterprise
tiers of security
or will the
organisation
allow to bypass
its security
for the search
engine?
Well there will
be specific
people with
the organisation
to pull such
data and do
it. We also
take care of
the fact that
who has what
rights and pull
what data. Even
for the archived
data we allow
the same access
and administrative
rights as for
the original
data.
What are the
best practices
you suggest
an enterprise
needs to follow?
Information
Lifecycle Management
(ILM) is not
a product. It
is a strategy
and the first
thing would
like to mention
is when enterprises
embark upon
ILM strategies
is to look at
the enterprise
data as a whole
and not limited
to e-mails or
databases alone.
ILM should be
policy driven.
Enterprises
need to start
with data governance.
This needs to
be followed
up by data classification
and also the
fact that how
long the enterprise
need to store
the specific
data. This needs
to be followed
by the organisations
diligently.
CFO, CIO and
CSO should make
sure that the
defined policies
are followed
up by every
one in the organisation.
How large is
Solix in India?
What is your
current status
and future plans?
Almost all of
our developments
happen at our
development
centre at Hyderabad.
Add to that
our sales and
marketing office
is located in
Mumbai. India
is the hub for
our Asia Pacific
operations.
In terms of
our future plans
we want our
eDiscovey platform
to have more
customer base.
