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If board level decisions are not taken today to implement robust and structured long term data archiving (LTDA) and retrieval solutions, the damaging effects will be seen, if not tomorrow, then in the very near future. The fact is that the problem needs tackling now, at the very top, at board level, as the implications for ignoring or deferring the issue will have a major commercial impact for those organisations who don't meet this threat head on.

Data explosion - the situation today
Generation of commercial data is growing at 125% annually, and it is estimated that as much as 80% of current commercial data is not actively used, so is therefore ready for archiving. With traditional commercial data, this doesn't present much of a problem, as it is commonly lightweight and can easily be compressed. The problem arises with engineering data, in particular design data, where file sizes are huge and they are getting bigger. Where once CAD files were often less than 1MB each, now it is not unusual to find files in the hundreds of megabytes.

Creation and storage of data - particularly CAD data - has never been faster or easier, so we just go on creating and storing ever increasing amounts of information without much thought on how it will be retrieved in the future. There is a limit to how many CAD seats and versions a company can maintain and the issue of reverse compatibility of hardware and software systems is a ticking time bomb that senior management has to assess and address.

In any long term data archiving project, the integration of legacy data will be a challenge, given the many different file types, CAD vendor formats and associative assemblies have been stored. Although most old CAD archives are simply stored in computer file hierarchies, some are stored in databases which are no longer supported.

Long term data archiving - do it now!
The message to management is the longer this decision is deferred, the more serious the implications. So, what is the answer to long term data archiving? The most efficient and probably cost effective way of gaining successful completion of such a project is to appoint specialists to implement your LTDA requirements. Most importantly, is the proven expertise that an external resource can provide, where knowledge and work on other LTDA projects can dramatically reduce project time, and dramatically increase its success. Theorem Solutions have just released a free whitepaper on this subject to help management review their options.

Theorem Solutions has more experience in long term data archiving than most players in the market. Having completed major LTDA projects for blue chip manufacturing clients in the automotive, aerospace and general manufacturing sectors, its specialist LTDA team has in-depth knowledge and skills in this complex subject, expertise in multi-platform data retrieval, conversion and data exchange. Players such as Theorem will scope the project, through to successful completion, carrying out all the tasks required to research, create an optimum project plan and proof of concept, carry out proof of concept and implement, ensuring total validation of all data.