Humans have now created more digital information than we have the ability to store according to EMC’s digital universe survey. ComputerWorld recently published an excellent article with a lawyer’s point of view regarding data destruction. Attorney’s Mark Grossman is a tech lawyer and the founder of the Grossman Law Group and Tate Stickles a partner in the Grossman Law Group provide some insight into provide some pointers for creating an effective data destruction policy.
Highlights of a data destruction policy according to the attorneys include:
Data destruction is intended to be permanent
Policies must be consistently enforced
The goal is to identify and classify what data the firm has and create effective policies for disposing of it
Legal and proper data destruction may prevent extensive fishing expeditions by your opponents
A regular business process addressing data destruction should provide some “safe harbor” protections under the Federal Rules of Evidence relating to electronic evidence
Have a data retention policy - A data destruction policy is the second part of your data retention policy which will help determine where data is stored and make it easier to delete old data
The general rule for the disposal of any data is that simple deletion and overwriting of data is not enough
When reusing media, wipe the old data, validate that the data is gone and then document the process then the media can be reused
Media that leaves the control of the firm by destroying old media or reselling it to another party require additional processes up to the physical destruction of media
Obligations to take certain data destruction steps depend on the laws, rules, or regulations that regulate the firm:
Sarbanes-Oxley
Graham-Leach-Bliley
the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act
HIPAA
Check with your tech attorney who can provide guidance on what laws, rules, and regulations apply to your company’s situation
Not heavily regulated firms can look to other destruction standards
U.S. Department of Defense standards and methods (DoD 5220.22-M)
National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Guidelines for Media Sanitization (NIST SP 80-88)
International, national, state, and local laws, rules and regulations
Should address how to classify and handle each type of data residing on the media
Needs a process for the review and categorization of the types of data your company has and what kinds can be removed
Classifications and contents of data will play a role
Data and media containing confidential information, trade secrets, and the private information of customers requires the strictest controls and destruction methods
Data and media containing little to no risk to the firm may have relaxed levels of control and destruction
Review contracts with other companies to ensure proper handling of data destruction within the terms of those contacts. I.e., non-disclosure agreements can contain data destruction terms which must be complied with
When reselling or recycling media, take samplings as appropriate to ensure that the proper levels of data destruction are maintained
In-house data destruction requires verification that the data sanitation and destruction tools and equipment are functioning properly and maintained appropriately
Document the entire policy so the firm will know what media is sanitized and destroyed. The documentation should allow easy answers to who, what, where, when, why, and how questions
The last step of an effective policy is to have a process in place so the firm can follow up with regularly scheduled testing of the process and media to ensure the effectiveness of the policy
Intel has been working on wireless power transmission technology for several years, which I wrote about earlier, that now works over longer distances. At its Intel Research Day at the Computer History Museum in Mt. View California, on 06-18-2009, the company showed off a new variation of the idea that power can be transmitted through the air to run a speaker without any other power source.
Intel now calls the technology Wireless Resonant Energy Link (WREL). Intel’s goal of the WREL project is to eliminate the the power cord. Building on principles proposed by MIT physicists in 2006, the WREL team has lit a 60W light bulb at a range of several feet and with 70% efficiency. WREL works in a fashion similar to the old 1970’s Memorex commercial staring Ella Fitzgerald where a singer can shatter a glass by hitting its natural frequency, at which it absorbs energy efficiently. In the case of WREL, a coil of wire with a natural frequency around 10MHz takes the place of the glass, and a similar coil takes the place of the singer. Two flat copper coils are used in the technology, each tuned to resonate at a particular frequency. That means when electromagnetic energy is released from one, the other picks it up in much the same way an opera singer can shatter a wine glass by singing at just the right pitch, said researcher Emily Cooper. The wireless transmission shows efficiency of 90 percent at distances of up to a meter, she said.
Intel hopes the technology will be useful for charging devices like netbooks or smartphones in a room without wires. Intel also predicts the technology could be used within devices such as a laptop. to replace the fallible wires that connect laptop screens through a hinge, Cooper said
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Intel admits that the next milestone for the WREL project is to build a rectifying circuit that can convert the RF power to DC power without upsetting the carefully tuned pair of coils. Intel has demonstrated they can charge a light bul with 60W of wireless power, which should be sufficent to charge a laptop. However to power a laptop or charge a battery, Intel will need DC power, not a 10MHz AC signal. The need to drive down the power requirements for the next generation of computing devices is also helping drive Intel’s latest attempt to break into the UMPC process market with the Atom chips and the next-generation “Moorestown” processor which boasts lower energy consumption requirements. It is also notable that Intel has a stated long-term plan of 60watts power for mainstream desktop processors, down from a maximum consumption 130 watts of the new Pentium Extreme Edition 840, according to Benson Inkley, a senior procesor applications engineer, with Intel in an article at Tom’s Hardware.
While it appears that Intel is on a trajectory to reduce the power requirements and costs of owning and operating a PC fleet, it wil be a while. It is much more likley that Moorestown processors are going to adided by the pending IEEE 802.3at POE+ specification which will allow up to at least 30W which can be used to charge devices. It is my guess that the reports of the demise of wired networking are greatly exagerated until Intel figures out how to ecoomically and safely deliver 60W through the vapor.
On Thursday (06-18-09) LG, and NComputing announced an agreement where the Korean manufacturing giant will include NComputing’s desktop virtualization hardware on a new line of LCD monitors slated for release in June 2009.
NComputing’s desktop virtualization product includes both a proprietary hardware access device and Vspace desktop virtualization software. The hardware piece will be integrated in the LG monitors that will enable a single PC or server to be virtualized. Two LCD sizes will be available in the U.S. on the LG SmartVine N-series line: a 17-inch and 19-inch monitor. The monitors can also be used as traditional monitors that connect using VGA.
“LG is integrating the access device into these monitors themselves,” Stephen Dukker, chairman and CEO of NComputing says. “So, instead of being a stand-alone, PC-like device, it becomes an all-in-one computing device, and you just plug your keyboard, mouse and microphone into the monitor,” he says. The solution will be priced below $200, and will offer both NComputing’s L series which connects via Ethernet and the X series access device, which requires a local PC connection.
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The partnership is the next act in the migration away from desktop PCs to portable computing (laptops, netbooks and mobile device). The traditional PC makers don’t realize that desktop virtualization allows the owner to save money throughout the life-cycle of the device. There are savings in up front acquisition costs; there are operational savings by reducing the management costs and the risk of obsolescence. Long term savings can include reduced power consumption and e-waste problems. NComputing indicates that by using LG’s monitors, customers can lower their computer hardware costs by 60%, maintenance costs by 70%, and electricity costs by 90%.
The combined capabilities of the two firms should make the rest of the industry take notice of their progress (or lack). LG shipped more than 15 million monitors in 2008, and NComputing claims over over a million seats sold in over 140 countries. NComputing won the Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation award, the Gartner Cool Vendor Award and the Frost and Sullivan Green Computing award. NComputing CEO Stephen Dukker was previously co-founder and CEO of low-cost PC maker eMachines.
Like the most of us (except the bankers) global sales of servers have taken a beating since the first quarter of 2008. Server sales have declined over $3 billion due to the economic slowdownmeltdown recession and the growth of virtualization. Today, the global server market stands below $10 billion.
Since Q1 of 2008 IBM’s server revenues has declined over $1 billion from $3.946 billion to $2.913 in Q1 2009. Big Blues market share also declined from 30% to 29.3% during the same period. On the other hand HP’s revenues grew from$2.904 billion to $3.624 billion and grew their market share to 29.3%, matching IBM in Q1 2009. Dell’s revenues dropped from $1.590 billion in 2008 Q1 with a 12.1% market share to revenues of $1.093 billion and a 11% market share in Q1 2009.
No quick recovery for server sales until general economy recovers (CI)
End users continue to extend life of existing servers (CI, other sources)
Servers remain among the least profitable for solution providers (CI: Market Pulse)
Demand for conventional and blade servers by end users continues to shrink (CI: Market Pulse)•Popularity of data center virtualization technologies have had the collateral effect of shrinking server hardware demand (CI)
The Walkstation by Michigan based Steelcase is a combination of a fully integrated electric height-adjustable work surface with an exclusively engineered, low speed commercial grade treadmill that allows users to burn calories, feel healthier and more energized all while accomplishing the work they normally do while seated.
Humans have now created more digital information than we have the ability to store according to EMC’s digital universe survey. ComputerWorld recently published an excellent article with a lawyer’s point of view regarding data destruction. Attorney’s Mark Grossman is a tech lawyer and the founder of the Grossman Law Group and Tate Stickles a partner in the Grossman Law Group provide some insight into provide some pointers for creating an effective data destruction policy.
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