Data is the new currency (and dial-tone)

This notion that data has become fungible currency is not a new idea. A decade ago, Clive Humby declared that “data was the new oil”. It is a fair analogy, given that oil, in its rawest form, is essentially useless. But both oil and data, when refined can be turned into something much more valuable. But unlike oil, the sources and uses of data are limitless. That means there is much wealth and new fortunes that can be built from the mountains of data that we produce every day.

Data departs from the oil analogy in another important way: data can be replicated and reused. 

Data replication has long been used as a means to provide business continuity. Replicated data can span production and disaster-recovery sites, adding layers of resiliency. For example, Maxava, a global provider of High Availability software solutions, can replicate data and objects in real-time to any number of systems, regardless of location. Whether the backup server is in the same building, across town, interstate or in another country, Maxava HA can replicate the database to a remote location of choice, ensuring complete data security and availability.

Such replication solutions are critical to maintaining an "always on" enterprise, which we all have come to expect. New delivery models have made such solutions available via the Cloud. Again, using Maxava as an example, they offer an HA Cloud model, allowing critical data and objects to be replicated, transaction by transaction, to a shared (virtualized) or private server in an off-site Datacenter at a secure remote location.

But data replication is not limited to HA solutions. It has other valuable use cases, like supporting technology transitions. Consider the mobile phone technology transitions over the past two decades, and you soon began to appreciate the value of data replication.

Do you remember your first mobile phone?

I remember when I got my first mobile phone. It was a Motorola—fantastic, revolutionary, and the size and weight of a brick! Back then all you could do on your phone was make calls: no e-mail, no Internet, no camera, no movies—just basic talk.

In just a few years, phones went from brick to slick.

Pretty soon, Motorola was releasing smaller and more compact devices while competitors Sony-Ericsson, Toshiba and Nokia were doing the same. Phones began to get a little smarter and soon you could store names and numbers on them and easily speed dial. This spelled the death of the Filofax personal organizer, which up until this point was the best way to keep tabs on business contacts, friends and family’s ever-changing phone numbers. Your personal data!

Then, a new problem arose. How do I move all my names and contact numbers from an old phone to a new one? In the days before Bluetooth and iCloud, this was always a bit tricky. It involved copying the contacts to the SIM card and sometimes to a PC and then back to the new phone. It would take ages and somehow there would always be a few contacts that got lost in the process and they had to be re-keyed manually.

Now, of course, it’s all quick, easy and seamless!

It’s pretty much the same situation, albeit on a much bigger scale, when a business needs to move from an old production server to a new one. Even a small business can generate many terabytes of data which needs to be transferred to the new platform without any loss or downtime. This process used to involve tape backups and restores, but this was risky, time consuming, and created problems if the servers were in different states or even different countries. Most large businesses now use real-time data replication tools to migrate to new servers. 

As mentioned previously, IBM Business Partner –Maxava www.maxava.com offers data replication software solutions, but not only for tradition HA use cases, rather, many clients use such replication solutions to smoothly transition to next generation infrastructure. For example, I am familiar with several large Southeast Asia Banks, who have used Maxava software to move from their existing IBM i servers to NextGen IBM Power Systems. These banks have enterprise class infrastructures, involving dozens of mission critical systems, responsible for handling billions of banking transactions, and spread across Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore. As well as using this slick data replication solution as a technology migration tool, the Maxava software is also used by these banks as an ongoing disaster recovery solution.

Data replication technology, which has long been the mainstay of High Availability and Disaster Recovery, is also a perfect tool for data portability and delivers the agility required to move data without risk or loss.

It all starts with data – no matter if it is on your mobile phone or on enterprise class systems.

 We have come a long way in our ability to handle and move data. Things sure have come a long way with personal data. And as for that old brick Motorola? You can buy one on e-bay for $400 if you are feeling nostalgic!

Be Happy

Eric

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