S 2.261 Regular market surveys of archive systems

Initiation responsibility: Archive Administrator, Head of IT

Implementation responsibility: Head of IT, Archive Administrator

The required retention times for archived data are normally many times longer than the average service life of individual components of an electronic archive. This applies both to hardware and software components.

In order to nevertheless ensure the entire scope of functions over the entire period of archiving, it must be assumed that individual hardware components, entire assemblies, or also software components may have to be replaced several times.

For this, regular market surveys form an important prerequisite. These surveys are intended to identify looming changes in due time. For example, such changes may include:

• changes to an old standard or implementation of a new standard for storage formats,
• changes by the manufacturer of the archive system used or the corresponding storage components (switch to new system platforms, discontinuation of a product series and discontinuation of the support, discontinuation of the production of storage media, insolvency of a manufacturer),
• disclosure of security gaps or weaknesses, e.g. regarding the used encryption algorithms.

It is recommendable to establish regular contact with all manufacturers involved, for example by participating in information forums such as newsgroups and mailing lists in which up-to-date information about the archive system use is provided regularly.

At least one person should be responsible for regularly obtaining the information described above, for analysing this information regarding its importance for the archive system used, and for recommending any necessary actions. In this connection, it must be defined how a potentially necessary migration of the system is initiated. The information gained at this point must be incorporated into the regular audit of the archiving process (see S 2.260 Regular auditing of the archiving procedure).

Review questions:

• Is the market for archive systems surveyed regularly, with information obtained being analysed and required activities being initiated?