EMC and Oracle are working together on a set of products
and services to target historical data which is generally stored on
business systems.
Businesses have a legal responsibility to store legacy data. Firms
in the financial sector, for example, have until the end of 2006 to
comply with the Basel 2 Accord, which aims to help companies manage
business risks.
The Accord, and its demands on data, are widely regarded as the
biggest technology challenge faced by banks since Y2K. But storing
such data in a live database can have an impact on its
performance.
To tackle the problem, EMC and Oracle have introduced the EMC
Databasextender Accelerator for the Oracle e-business suite, a set
of tools and services designed to help users migrate their database
records from enterprise storage onto lower cost storage
systems.
EMC claimed that the technology will reduce costs, improve database
performance and help Oracle customers meet data compliance
regulations.
Don Swatik, EMC's vice-president of global solutions, said,
"Dormant data sitting in a critical database can take up valuable
cycles, back-up time and become a management headache." The new
software will allow firms to keep older information accessible, he
added.
The archived information remains accessible and retrievable through
the Oracle application. EMC said cost and performance improvements
are achieved by preventing historical data management from impeding
other database tasks.
Through the agreement, consultants from EMC and Oracle will provide
assessment and analysis of users' data to determine which records
should be archived along with a service to customise the
Databasextender software.
The announcement of Databasextender is the latest development in
the relationship between the two firms. EMC and Oracle have had a
strategic alliance since 1995 and in 2002 set up a joint service
center staffed by engineers from both companies.
At the same time as the software announcement, EMC unveiled a set
of services to help users exploit Information Life-cycle
Management, including ILM workshops and assessment services.