Developments in storage technology and in the protection of data were discussed during the monthly professional event organised by ISACA Malta Chapter for IT professionals and business leaders.

Delivered by Mr. Nuno Fernandes, an IT Architect with Systec (Malta) Limited, the February session discussed the latest global trends in the storage of corporate data. Disk technologies have been extensively refined over many years and have now reached mammoth speeds and storage volumes. Nevertheless, they are no longer yielding any further improvements because the technology has reached the plateau of its maturity.  In short, the current engineering concept cannot yield further significant gains, thus leading to the use of solid-state memory for permanent enterprise data storage.

Solid-state technology is already in use in major organizations in Malta, and it is in a state of rapid evolution. Local public and private organizations in various industries are aware of the need to keep pace with emerging technologies. “Keeping still is not an option, because if a business and its IT pause, the competition will whizz past them” said Mr Fernandes.

Solid-state storage technology complements developments of the recent past. Suffice to look at the need for IT consolidation, the need for high availability, and the business requirement to store data beyond text and numbers such as, engineering drawings, still images, audio and video.

The presentation touched on other issues such as IT service provision through the Cloud,  architected to allow organisations to lease rather than buy, to get best-of-breed solutions, to take advantage of regular innovation and service provision over the Internet from a remote provider. This commercial model converts high upstream capital outlays to a stream of staggered payments, having a positive impact on cash-flow. This mode of service provision also enables cost-effective Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity options, albeit requiring a transformed operational model.

The ISACA Malta Chapter holds monthly educational sessions on subjects related to information security and IT governance. The next event is being held on 21st March and will discuss the changing landscape within data protection law.