GMV presents the results of its data preservation study in Denver

GMV, pioneer company in Information Network and Systems Security, has presented the results of its LAST study (Long term data Archive Study on new Technologies). The chosen venue was the international MSST 2011 congress (27th IEEE - MSST 2011 - Symposium on Massive Storage Systems and Technologies) in Denver, Colorado.

In recent years earth observation activities have increased considerably, providing a vast amount of data to help us keep track of what is happening on planet earth (in terms of meteorology, geology, gas concentrations, type of vegetation or forest fires and a long etcetera). This presents us with the problem of how to preserve all this data, increasing at breakneck speed while archiving systems become obsolete and unreliable.

ESA’s study, with GMV at the helm, analyzes all the data-archiving technologies and comes to highly interesting conclusions that set the trends for the future.

GMV has conducted an analysis of the various archiving-system architectures, leading to a classification of them in relation to the policies defined by a set of leading worldwide firms in EO data archiving. This classification has been drawn up by a group called Long Term Data Preservation (LTDP), whose main goal is to analyze and standardize these questions with the broadest range of support and agreement.

On the basis of this study a systematic method has been drawn up and assessment models have been defined to weigh up all existing technologies in a thoroughgoing and objective way. The congress presented assessment models that can be shared publicly (since the assessment results and conclusions belong to the private domain), can be openly debated and tweaked over time to phase in technology changes. These models can be used by different benchmark archiving firms for coming to their own conclusions on the technologies being used. Metrics have also been put forward for keeping track of a system’s technological progress in comparison with the best on the market.

The assessment system presented by GMV is positive for both parties. The archiving firms themselves are provided with a decision-taking method and a standard list of attributes to assess in relation to the policies defined by the group LTDP, while the manufacturers are kept abreast of the attributes under assessment and try to improve their products on a competitive basis. In the long run this improves the archiving systems themselves and brings down their costs.

Preservation of all complied data is crucial to be able to analyze the cause-effect relationships, the evolving developments and a host of other variables. Analysis of this data gives us a vast amount of information that could turn out to be very useful in terms of forecasting future situations, recognising patterns, etc. Furthermore, data archiving systems are advancing at such a breakneck speed that the data being stored today will be able to give us much more detailed information and insights in the near future.

The following graph, drawn up from ESA information, shows the archiving trend over recent years and the expectations for the future.