Making Records Management More SecureMaking Records Management More Secure

These days, any business can get hit with new government regulations, a criminal investigation, or a lawsuit that requires it to produce records. Failure to do so can result in hefty penalties. But it isn't easy to manage and preserve the growing number of records a business is required to keep.

On Tuesday, Decru, MDY Advanced Technologies, and Network Appliance said they had partnered to provide customers with a simple records-management service. By integrating products from the three vendors, customers can get automated records management that can encrypt and handle documents from creation, through online storage to archiving and eventual deletion. It will preserve documents for seven years, the life of a medical patient, or as long as is required by various rules and regulations.

Decru contributes its DataFort appliance for a layer of encryption, authentication, and access control in front of a storage network. MDY provides software for document, knowledge, and records management with services to help optimize and secure those areas. NetApp will provide file shredding on its primary FAS (fabric-attached service) and NearStore nearline storage systems. The three vendors achieved U.S. Department of Defense 5015.2-STD certification for records management.

Securing and storing documents is an important issue for many businesses, says Jamie Gruener, an industry analyst at the Yankee Group. "This combination of vendors will allow companies to meet compliance issues involving security issues much more quickly."