Sony, CA tie up to offer complete worm tape storage solutions

Our Convergence Bureau
16 July 2003

Las Vegas: Sony Electronics and Computer Associates International (CA) have announced complete storage solutions with write-once read-many (WORM) functionality that combine Sony''s WORM-enabled family of desktop and slim-line AIT StorStation autoloaders and libraries with CA''s WORM-ready BrightStor ARCserve Backup software, and Sony''s AIT WORM tape media.

These solutions address today''s intensifying data retention and storage requirements, driven by growing government regulatory mandates. They are also the first deliverables resulting from the alliance the two companies announced today to jointly promote integrated data storage solutions. The new solutions are being demonstrated at CA World this week in booth #1309.

With these WORM-enabled storage solutions, customers can easily implement long-term protection for their backups and archives, while also satisfying government regulations for electronic record keeping and data retention. The solutions are especially appealing to customers in vertical markets such as those financial services institutions that must adhere to SEC record retention rules, as well as those healthcare organisations that must abide by HIPAA legislation.

The joint Sony/CA solutions provide businesses with all the benefits of automated tape backups, while meeting stringent regulatory requirements for long term and write-once data retention. In addition, the costs associated with AIT WORM tape storage are only a fraction of WORM optical storage or other high-end WORM tape solutions.

"The solutions that Sony and CA are offering provide affordable, easy-to-manage storage for small businesses, remote offices and corporate departments-markets that are currently under-served, yet also must comply with growing regulatory requirements," says Steve Baker, vice-president for Sony Electronics'' tape storage solutions division. "By adding write-once functionality to our compact AIT autoloaders and libraries at no additional cost, we are meeting the needs of a huge volume of users who must store and retain data on a medium that cannot be rewritten or reformatted."

"By including CA''s BrightStor ARCserve software with Sony''s AIT solutions, we are making it extremely easy for customers to use WORM technology for both business protection and regulatory compliance," says Gary McGuire, CA senior vice-president for BrightStor solutions. "Our combined solution simplifies and speeds data retrieval, which is also a critical consideration in the implementation of any record-retention strategy."