How long does your company need to retain its digital information? Can the goal be reached?

Right now, there’s a push from long-term preservation of data — but not necessarily the capability, according to a recent survey by the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). Of the 276 organizations surveyed, 80% said they needed to retain information for more than 50 years.  However, 70% are “highly dissatisfied” with their ability to do so.

The problem is two-fold: There’s the physical deterioration of storage devices, and also the need to migrate data to new formats so it can be read by new applications.

Why do organizations want to keep data for that long? Part of the reason is business and compliance requirements, but the main driver behind the time frame of 50 years or more is “preserving the history of the organization,” according to SNIA.

SNIA’s currently working on developing ways businesses can realistically hang on to data for those periods of time, which you can read about here.

Tags: SNIA, Storage, Storage Networking Industry Association