Re: [ARSCLIST] Hard disk drives and DAT

[John Spencer <js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard (and George),

Let me apologize for the unintentional attribution of Richard's post  
as George's (I had purposefully left the "On Mar 27, 2007, at 6:59  
PM, George Brock-Nannestad wrote:"  - to show George was responding  
to Richard's post).

Having muddied that up sufficiently....let me address Richard's post  
below:

> I would love to understand the commercial model that will be around  
> in 100 years that accepts data up front for perpetual storage with  
> just a deposit fee.

I would love to understand ANY model, commercial or otherwise, that  
will be around in 100 years.

Regarding Trusted Digital Repositories, commercial repositories, home- 
brew repositories, you name it - I don't think ANY of them will exist  
in their current fashion in 100 years. I'm hopeful we make as much  
progress in storage as we have in the last 50 years - and if the  
development cycle is anything like it has been, we'll have 100s of  
TBs of storage on our desktop (if we still use desks!). That is why  
many constantly repeat the mantra "migrate, migrate, migrate" digital  
preservation files.

Richard, you've indicated good results with 3 university/ government  
entities in another post. That has obviously worked for your clients.  
Mentioning Enron and Global Crossing as 2 corporate disasters is  
correct as well, yet neither of them were in the primary business of  
storing digital archives.

Might I contrast those observations with 3 other IT "disasters" that  
have cost US taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars (and the  
privacy of millions more):

1. FBI - Virtual Case File cost overruns:
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/20_5/25687-1.html

2. IRS - 5-year track record of cost overruns and delayed deliveries:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? 
res=9C06E6DC173CF932A25751C1A9659C8B63

3. Dept. of Veteran's Affairs data loss of 20 million Veterans  
information:
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/06/05/78812_23NNvaprivacylaw_1.html

What I am trying to support with these examples is that no entity  
(government or corporate) is immune to budget cuts, cost overruns  
that shut down the project, going out of business, or otherwise  
screwing up.

My initial intent for responding to the post was simply to point out  
there are other options for underfunded archival projects. HDDs and  
CD-Rs are not the only cost-effective solutions, but I sense my  
thinking is in the minority....

Best,
John

John Spencer
BMS/ Chace LLC
1801 8th Ave. S.  Suite 200
Nashville, TN 37203
office (615) 385-1251
email: js@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.bridgemediasolutions.com


On Mar 28, 2007, at 1:04 PM, Richard L. Hess wrote:

> At 12:29 PM 2007-03-28, John Spencer wrote:
> > George,
> >
> > I'm not ready to go along with the assumption that all commercial
> > digital repositories charge a "per-chunk, per-time-period fee". There
> > are many cost models for these types of service, based on the Service
> > Level Agreement agreed to by the repository and the customer.
> >
> > To assume "if you don't keep paying your data goes to the bit bucket
> > in the sky", well, isn't the same true for gas, electricity, water,
> > etc? Not quite sure I agree with the statement - and it would seem
> > than anyone using an outsourced digital repository would have
> > physical backups of the data somewhere else, if a proper disaster
> > plan is in place.
> >
> > Are university systems inherently less prone to disaster?
> >
> > I'd like more help to understand why university repositories in
> > general are superior to those in the commercial space (and have the
> > implied "added value" of existing in perpetuity).
> >
> > Best,
> > John
>
> John, you're quoting my words to which George was replying.
>
> I would love to understand the commercial model that will be around  
> in 100 years that accepts data up front for perpetual storage with  
> just a deposit fee.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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