Archiving the Back-up Media Ray Hoffmann Anacomp 12120 A Plum Orchard Dr Silver Spring MD 20904 Phone: +1-301-572-2000 x305; +1-800-297-1218 Fax: +1-301-572-4421 rayanacomp@aol aol.com
SPECIAL RECOGNITION TO HARVEY SPENCER of Harvey Spencer Associates
Microfilm Reasserts Itself in The Digital Age Microfilm, written off by many as an archaic medium, is showing signs of a new life.
Digital & Optical Disks Seemed to Have All The Advantages Cheap to produce & compact Easy to locate and easy to transmit/deliver the images Longevity from optical >25 years Equipment to produce and recreate easily available
But Then Doubts Began to Arise Media gets outdated -- It costs money to keep digitized media up to date Damage can occur to the media 200/300 dpi resolutions can result in dropped information Bitonalization removes shades of gray Why do I really need it on disk?
Access Frequency Normally Drops Off Very Rapidly 90 80 70 60 50 40 No of Page Accesses 30 20 1st W eek 1st Mth Qtr ½ Yr 1 Yr 2yrs 10 0
So Access Speeds are Not as Important as Safety And the cost of re-generating the media when drives are obsolete is expensive.
As a Result Users Are Again Looking At Film Scanner/Filmers are Increasing in Popularity Digital to Film Output is Growing Film 1st -- Scan the Film is Being Touted Demand Scanners Are Being Sold
Film for Archive Film for Conversion Archive film is safe, proven and need not be regularly copied to update it. Conversion via film can be cost effective
Conversion Systems From Film Can be Cheaper Low cost equipment on site Low set-up charges Labor available locally to film Scanning & Indexing can be performed at central site Indexing can be automatic from CAR Database
It All Goes To Prove That Film IS NOT Dead Yet
Digital COM DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
Film s New Role In the magical role of Electronic Document Imaging and Information Delivery Systems
Most Common Document Image Format TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) Group IV Compression Scan Resolutions Avg.. Compressed Size 100 DPI 40k Page 200 DPI 160k Page 300 DPI 360k Page
The Information Delivery Market Substantial, and Growing 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 1994 1997 Electronic printing dominates; digital imaging snowballs; micrographics flat Customers demanding integrated, highly reliable solutions 0 Printing Imaging Micrographics 1 Source: AIIM, Xplor,, BIS Strategic Decisions
The Life Cycle Paradigm: Origination Creation, capture and processing supported by on and near-line delivery As information ages, it migrates toward analog Information Aging Create Capture Process On Line Near Line Access Off Line Archive Origination Delivery
The Life Cycle Paradigm: Evolution Typical Life of a Document Active Storage Begins Inactive Storage Begins Typically, use of information declines rapidly after a short period All information evolves through a life cycle As information evolves, gaps can be created 0 1 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Retention Period in Years
The Life Cycle Paradigm: Delivery Delivery Media On-line Magnetic disk Near-line CD/Optical Off-line Magnetic tape/ Print Archive Microfilm Delivery requirements demand specific media types The longer information is retained, the more often it will be migrated The more it is migrated, the more gaps are created
Digital Solutions Proliferate 100 80 60 40 20 0 Trends in Digital Information 1996 1999 2004 Digital Paper Digital technology now reaching more corporate applications Document management solutions maturing External (customer) documents still need to be output to paper and micrographics
Why Are Document Imaging Systems Installed? To increase productivity, gain a competitive edge, and make documents more accessible. Transaction Processing High Volume Storage and Retrieval Applications.
Where Were These Documents Stored Previously? On Paper and Film On Workers Desks In Office File Cabinets In Storage Warehouses
So Now That Electronic Document Imaging Systems Are Here... Paper is Obsolete File Cabinets Are Being Eliminated Film is Obsolete PCs - Network or Internet Attached - Meet Your Needs
But...Technology Has Advanced! On Line Storage is Cheaper Near Line Storage Works PCs Are Common on Desktops Networks Have Given Users Access The Internet is Here And Guess What?
Smart Users Know... Networks Still Go Down Not Everyone Has Electronic Access Systems and Components Become Obsolete Every 3 to 5 Years Migrations Are Painful and Unreliable We Still Haven t Solved The Technical Dependency Equation
Many Imaging Solution RFQ s Today---- Specify an exit strategy and film output allows a safe consistent media to scan or refer to. Specify microfilm output to satisfy archival requirements especially in a uni-record mode. Specify microfilm as the media to satisfy demand printing.
THREE SOLUTIONS ARE USED Film Then Scan Scan and Film Scan Then Film FTS S&F STF
COMPARISON OF THE THREE METHODS IMAGE QUALITY Resolution Contrast Recording Integrity FTS S&F STF 1 3 2 2 3 1 2 3 1
COMPARISON OF THE THREE METHODS OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS Indexing Quality Control Electronic Titling Formats Management Costs-Low volume Costs-High volume FTS S&F STF 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 2 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 2 3 2 3 1
COMPARISON OF THE THREE METHODS OTHER CONSIDERATIONS Data Extraction Database Reconciliation Records Management & Archiving Document Composition FTS S&F STF 3 2 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 3 2 1
OVERALL RANKING FILM THEN SCAN SCAN and FILM SCAN THEN FILM FTS #2 2 S&F #3 0 STF #1 12 Note: This survey and comparison was taken from the IMC Journal. (date unknown)
Paper Consumption Grew by 14% in 1996 Paper Storage Grew at The Same Rate Filing Cabinet Shipments Were Up Over 10% And The Film Industry is Surprised It s Not Having a Bad Year! Guess What?
Electronic Document Imaging Works Great! As Long As The Storage Media Is Still On Line or Near Line As Long As The User Has Access As Long As The Index Is Maintained As Long As The Storage Media Has Not Become Obsolete
But Remember All Those Files In File Cabinets In Storage Boxes In Warehouses On Film or Paper The Users Kept? For 7, 10, or Even 30 Years
Remember The Technical Dependency Equation? Economic Life of System 5 Years Life of Stored Information 7 Years # Years System and Components Must Be Maintained 12 Years
Very Few Companies Can Justify Increasing Storage Costs For WORN 98% of all information stored in Enterprise Systems is WORN Information (Write Once, Read Never)
Archival Information Needs A Technically Independent Media Paper is: Costly Bulky Cumbersome Tasty Paper is EDI s Target
Film Is The Only Sensible Archival Medium Compact Economical (More So Over Time) Human Readable Electronically Retrievable
Digital COM (What a great idea!) Automated Image Output Recording to Film Replaces Source Filming Can Mix Analog and Digital Data in the Same Data Stream High Resolution Images up to 300 DPI Meets All Archival Standards Eliminates Migration Issues Retrieval is Not Technology Dependent
Digital COM Benefits Error Free Recording High Speed Not Labor Intensive High Resolution True Archival Medium Low Cost Easy Retrieval Not Technology Dependent
Digital COM? Some folks are saying it is the beginning and the end of the document life cycle.