As companies implement digital voice applications, storage managers need to prepare for these new data sources.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone calling is accelerating the evolution from an analog to a digital world and bringing new storage challenges to the data center. Before the digitization of voice, analog voice traffic was recorded on tape and perhaps later transferred to CDs or DVDs. Some of these recordings might have been listened to--typically 30 to 90 days after their creation--and then the media was archived or jettisoned. Some shops kept their voice-recording media for a longer period of time, but as the number of CDs grew, storage management problems multiplied.
It's much easier today to store digital voice recordings as a file or row item in a large relational database; all of the tools and processes of modern data centers can be used to store, index, search, archive and expire this digital data. With so many different options to store voice that's been captured in a digital format, storage managers need to develop a plan to incorporate VoIP recording data into their data center storage infrastructure using a tier of storage that's cost-effective and appropriate for the value of the data.
Requires Free Membership to View
When you register for SearchStorage.com, you’ll also receive targeted emails from my team of award-winning editorial writers. Our goal is to keep you informed on the hottest topics, the latest news and the biggest challenges you face as a storage professional today.
Rich Castagna, Editorial Director
This was first published in April 2006