Today everyone is looking to reduce costs, and a company’s IT environment can account for up to 40% of their energy consumption.  Smart IT departments are evaluating their IT environments for ways to reduce their energy requirements.  One obvious way is to not spend money on storage you don’t need.

There is no doubt that today’s data centers are huge energy consumers.  Some studies say that they account for between 1.2 and 2.0 percent of electricity consumed in the United States. It is also a known fact that many of the servers in the data centers run at a low utilization level of only 10% to 15%.

One way to reduce your power consumption is to adopt the cloud-computing model for infrastructure, applications and storage.  For instance, look at business applications that are not critical to your business or those you can’t afford to maintain with a separate IT group in-house – such as CRM apps, HR/HCM, Backup and Restore, Security etc. Instead of running these applications on your data center, you should consider using applications provided by third-party service providers. This, in turn, reduces the number of servers in your data center – which means you have less energy consumption.

Accurately forecasting your storage requirements is difficult.  You may be able to forward predict your data growth and purchase storage hardware on an as-needed basis.  But what if your business is seasonal or growing and you don’t have prior years’ usage patterns to rely on?  This is where cloud storage can help.  Instead of buying and managing hardware in anticipation of future requirements, cloud storage allows you to simply contract for storage “on demand.”

In the past “green IT” was a nice to have.  But in today’s economic environment power consumption costs are very visible and organizations are looking to the benefits of green approaches and expecting quicker ROIs for any incremental investments.

Data Mountain delivers on the promise of cloud storage for business data through its enterprise Storage-as-a-Service solutions.  As the trusted Storage-as-a-Service leader, Data Mountain solutions, utilizing Iron Mountain’s services, are based on enterprise storage infrastructure and requirements, which add levels of security, scale, control and access not found in standard cloud storage.  Contact us to learn how Data Mountain’s PC and server online backup and inactive data archiving services can make stored data actionable, reduces risk, creates efficiencies and controls costs, thereby creating peace of mind.  All with the added benefit of reducing your power consumption requirements and costs.

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

Implementation specifications are indicated as required or addressable.  As organizations work towards HIPAA-HITECH compliance, it is important to understand the difference.

A covered entity or business associate must comply with a required implementation specification must.  For example, all covered entities and business associates including small providers must conduct a “Risk Analysis” in accordance with Section 164.308(a)(1) of the Security Rule.

For addressable implementation specifications, covered entities must perform an assessment to determine whether the specification is a reasonable and appropriate safeguard in the covered entity’s environment. After performing the assessment, an organization decides if it will:

• Implement the addressable implementation specification as stated;
• Implement an equivalent alternative measure that allows the entity to comply with the standard; or,
• Not implement the addressable specification or any alternative measures, if equivalent measures are not reasonable and appropriate within its environment.

Covered entities and business associates are required to document these assessments and all decisions. For example, all covered entities including small providers must determine whether “Encryption and Decryption” is reasonable and appropriate for their environment in accordance with Section 164.312(a)(1) of the Security Rule.

Factors that determine what is “reasonable” and “appropriate” include cost, size, technical infrastructure and resources. While cost is one factor entities must consider in determining whether to implement a particular security measure, some appropriate measure must be implemented.

An addressable implementation specification is not optional, and the potential cost of implementing a particular security measure does not free covered entities from meeting the requirements identified in the rule.

Our advice…

• Don’t waste time debating about ‘addressable’ versus ‘required’.
• Just do it! – the vast majority of the standards specifications make good business sense.
• HIPAA Security Standards set a “floor” or “baseline” for security
• Don’t make the mistake of thinking ‘addressable’ means ‘optional’; it does not!
• Check out our HIPAA-HITECH compliance software to jump-start your program

Using Social Media to Increase Patient Volume Webinar

With more than a few things going on in the “back office” of most medical practices and hospitals (e.g., EHR/EMR, Meaningful Use, HIPAA-HITECH compliance, etc), what’s the best way to ensure there are still patients coming into the “front office”.  Who’s worrying about growing the practice?

Our Colleagues at HITECHAnswers.net are sponsoring this webinar and have offered us a discount to pass along to all of our readers and customers.  Register for this action-packed webinar entitled “Using Social Media to Increase Patient Volume” using the DISCOUNT CODE = cj5w and receive a $50.00 discount.

Session date:  Tuesday, September 14, 2010 
Starting time:  2:00 pm, Eastern Daylight Time (New York, GMT-04:00)
Duration:  2 hours
Presenters:  John Luginbill 
Description:  Social Media is only valuable if it can be monetized and used to contribute directly to the growth of your practice or hospital. The key is to use a three-pronged approach to create a comprehensive social media strategy that is automated and results-oriented.

Join John Luginbill, CEO and Founder of THE HEAVYWEIGHTS on September 14, 2010 from 2pm – 4pm EST for a live learning session to share this three-pronged approach.

This event will provide you with the background and tools to implement a sustainable social media strategy for your organization. It includes:

- Social media defined and usage trends
- The opportunity social media presents to increase patient volume
- The 4-step framework for implementation in 60 days
- Guiding principles for developing a strategy
- Tips and tools to stimulate your social media program
- Worksheets to help you select the right technology
- Case studies

Cost of this event includes a video recording of the session you can view or download to your desktop to refer to as often as needed post event.

John is the CEO and Founder of THE HEAVYWEIGHTS, an innovator in health system, clinic and physician group marketing strategy as well as a leader in the marketing and promotion of consumer packaged goods. He is author of the blog TurnUpYourVolume.com providing healthcare professionals information on how to increase patient volume. Visit his blog to sign-up for his newsletter.

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS has helped some of the nation’s largest healthcare systems increase volume. Some of these systems include:
- Clarian Health
- Indiana University School of Medicine
- Indiana University Bren and Melvin Simon Cancer Center
- Riley Hospital for Children

Learn how to increase your patient volume from the leader in the industry.
Session fee (USD$):  179.00 
 
Host’s name:  Carol Flagg 
Host’s email:  cflagg@pivotalsolutiongroup.com

Our September 2010 Data Protection eNewsletter has been published.

We continue to feature HIPAA Security Rule and HITECH Act data security updates, including the link to the US Department of Health and Human Services’ “Wall of Shame” — its Data Breach Notification web page.

Please enjoy our analysis and  links to industry articles and white papers that we’ve researched and assembled for you. I’m confident you’ll find a nugget or two among them!

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

Review full press release…

View HIPAA Security Assessment ToolKit™ Video

Whether you’re a Covered Entity (CE), a Business Associate (BA) or a subcontractor, if you receive, store, process or transmit ePHI, you need to attend this webinar. No matter where you are in your HIPAA-HITECH compliance journey, you will benefit from specific, actionable ideas on how to: Jump-start your program Revitalize your compliance efforts Update your program with HITECH requirements Develop an internal benchmarking system Implement safeguards as soon as possible Evaluate current administrative, physical and technical safeguards

• Review the HIPAA Security Final Rule
• Learn about major changes brought about by The HITECH Act
• Learn about the new Civil Monetary Penalty System
• Learn practical, actionable steps to take today to mitigate risk and help assure compliance
• View a demo of our HIPAA-HITECH Security Assessment ToolKit™

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

Despite the economic downturn and what now seems to be a protracted recovery, the rate of data creation is increasing.  And the storage equation has changed from simply one of “more data = more storage” to one of understanding HOW to store MORE data for LONGER periods of time without experiencing a linear increase in storage costs, management overhead and energy and facilities consumption.

The amount of data that is being created is increasing, and there are requirements to retain that data for longer periods of time.  Yet IT budgets are expected to be flat (at best) over the near future.  How will you do more with less?

Here are three steps to follow for controlling the growth in file-based storage:

1.    Know what data is being created.  And know the value that data represents to the organization.  Not all data is created equally.  A typical .jpg file could be 2 MB.  Enough of those files and your storage system can get overwhelmed.  There are also files without owners taking up valuable capacity.  Understanding these realities will help you create better policies.
2.    Know what data to keep.  Today more data is being created in a digital format.  Once you understand which files to keep, you should next explore leveraging data capacity optimization technologies (compression, single-instancing or de-duplication).  The approach you select will be determined by how active your data is.
3.    Acquire storage when you need it.  Too often storage is acquired before it is needed, and in some cases some of the capacity is used only periodically in support of various projects or seasonal activity (such as development collaboration, etc.).  You could probably benefit from leveraging the Storage-as-a-Service model, which allows capacity to be provisioned and consumed on an as-needed basis without upfront storage infrastructure investments or management overhead.

The solution to the sprawl of file-based storage?  Manage what gets stored and where, reduce the data footprint, and augment existing storage assets with outsourced storage services where possible.

Data Mountain’s Storage-as-a-Service solutions allow you to securely protect your organization’s PC or server backup data and your inactive file data offsite at their data centers, without upfront investments in infrastructure.  Our LiveVault™ server backup, Connected™ Backup for PC and Macintosh and Virtual File Store™ solutions employ a variety of data reduction and security technologies to manage your storage requirements.  Imagine a new storage paradigm where you no longer have to make significant capital expenditures, but where your company’s valuable data is secure and available for recovery if and when you need it.  Today thousands of companies worldwide rely on these solutions.  Contact us to learn how you can too.

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

Like the attic or basement in your house, a storage system can quickly get clogged with inactive or static data.  Few people know how long they should keep their data.  Most IT departments have the attitude that like those old magazines and sports equipment that you can’t bear to part with “it might come in useful one day.”  Research has shown that as much as 70-80% of data is inactive or static.  Keeping this data on “Tier 1” storage is expensive.  But what is the solution?

Archiving is the solution – moving the data from primary disks to easily accessible secondary or offsite storage. A proper and effective data archive should include the following features and functionality:

•    Scalability
•    Cost-effectiveness
•    Availability
•    Secure long term protection for the data.

Businesses are looking for ways to expand their storage capacity in the most cost effective way, and cloud storage can reduce the need for additional personnel, hardware and infrastructure.  Cloud storage archiving solutions can scale storage almost instantly without incurring large upfront capital expenditures or the need to expand your supporting infrastructure.  They also avoid downstream costs to upgrade and maintain any onsite storage hardware.

The only downside is that you will be storing your data offsite at a third party’s location.  You should be comfortable with the cloud storage vendor’s security procedures for your data, both at rest and in transit.

One cloud archiving solution that is growing in popularity is Iron Mountain’s Virtual File Store™ service.  Featuring secure, end-to-end encryption, Virtual File Store is implemented as a hybrid model with an on-site appliance that appears on the network as a “bottomless” NFS or CFS volume.

With Data Mountain managing your inactive data using the Iron Mountain service, you spend less and store more. There are no huge upfront costs or ongoing system investments; the Virtual File Store service simply becomes part of your monthly operating budget. With your inactive data offsite, you save on power, cooling and infrastructure costs.

OK, so you can’t necessarily delete your old data, but you shouldn’t be spending top dollar to store it on-site and back it up frequently.

Data Mountain delivers on the promise of cloud storage for business data through its enterprise Storage-as-a-Service solutions such as their Virtual File Store.  Contact us

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

View HIPAA Security Assessment ToolKit™ Video

Whether you’re a Covered Entity (CE), a Business Associate (BA) or a subcontractor, if you receive, store, process or transmit ePHI, you need to attend this webinar.  No matter where you are in your HIPAA-HITECH compliance journey, you will benefit from specific, actionable ideas on how to: Jump-start your program Revitalize your compliance efforts Update your program with HITECH requirements Develop an internal benchmarking system Implement safeguards as soon as possible Evaluate current administrative, physical and technical safeguards

• Review the HIPAA Security Final Rule
• Learn about major changes brought about by The HITECH Act
• Learn about the new Civil Monetary Penalty System
• Learn practical, actionable steps to take today to mitigate risk and help assure compliance
• View a demo of our HIPAA-HITECH Security Assessment ToolKit™

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!

Consumer-driven trends, such as social networking and smart phones, cause IT departments to struggle with the balance between providing appropriate service levels and maintaining control.  Today, online backup is causing anguish for IT.  But new technologies or services shouldn’t be risky if you think about how to implement them correctly and partner with the right vendor.

We all want to do things faster and better, and are exposed to consumer technologies and services that would probably make sense in the workplace.  And everyone wants IT to implement their projects faster.  So what is the right approach when it comes to adopting these new technologies and services at work?

Let’s take a look at online backup services (aka “cloud storage”).  Easy to sign up for (got a credit card?) and implement, it is tempting for individuals and workgroups to sign up for these services for the ease of use and peace of mind that they provide.  However, if they do this without the permission of the corporate IT and storage teams then they could be inadvertently sending data offsite without proper attention to regulations.

Non-compliance is just one of the risks.  Offsite data can also be vulnerable to hacking.  Another risk is that the employee who originally signed up for the service may have access to that data after they have left the company (did they leave for the competition?).  So what appears to be the right choice and easy to implement can in fact be an unnecessary risk for your company.

Instead of taking a heavy handed approach and banning the use of online backup services, IT departments should evaluate cloud storage solutions that meet their enterprise data protection and security requirements.  These requirements typically include encryption, consolidated billing, uptime service level agreements and ease of deployment (and security if/when employees leave).

Data Mountain has been providing enterprise cloud storage solutions for backing up PC and server data since 2004 and all our services are delivered by the industry leader, Iron Mountain Digital.  Today thousands of companies’ servers and millions of desktops are protected using their LiveVault® and Connected® solutions.  If we may help you, please contact us to learn how you can improve your data protection procedures while providing your end-users with the reassurance that their data will be there when they need it.

We would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below!