Xiotech Corporation has introduced an integrated information risk management model and a comprehensive set of products and services to assist mid-sized organizations in defining, developing and implementing an integrated information risk management program. This integrated approach will address litigation, investigation, regulatory, governance and business continuity concerns.
To facilitate its ability to meet customers' broad and deep range of requirements, Xiotech is planning an aggressive acquisition program expected to last at least through the end of 2007. The intention is to acquire a broad range of consulting, service and product capabilities to further its position as the first integrated information risk management provider.
Xiotech is also preparing to introduce an integrated offering that addresses the entire information risk management spectrum. The new solution delivers the insight, control, and protection required for effective management across IT, legal, records management and compliance responsibilities.
"Traditional boundaries between storage, content management, incident management and litigation services are problematic and sometimes treacherous in a world in which electronic information flows so freely," said Scott Winkler, corporate vice president, offerings, for Xiotech. "We give organizations advanced capabilities and safeguards by managing information in ways that meet the needs of the IT, records management, compliance and corporate counsel functions, rather than addressing each in isolation."
To date, the standard approach to managing information has been to "divide and conquer" along functional lines. This approach leads to point solutions that solve specific issues, but often exacerbate problems for other areas. These problems have become more acute with increasing regulation and litigation and the proliferation of new technologies like instant messaging and flash drives.
In a recent report, research firm Forrester noted how this approach breaks down in one business process-eDiscovery. "Spending for litigation matters traditionally has been the responsibility of an organization's office of general counsel," wrote analyst Barry Murphy. "Technology, on the other hand, has been the domain of IT. Add in fact, that when it comes to compliance issues, records managers are also involved in the decision. Suddenly decision making is muddled, slow and disjointed." ("Believe It-eDiscovery Technology Spending To Top $4.8 Billion By 2011," Dec. 11, 2006).
"Xiotech is uniquely positioned to be the first integrated information risk management supplier in this emerging market," said the company's president and CEO, Casey Powell. "Our existing capabilities, combined with those we will acquire in the coming months, will allow us to address the full spectrum of information management for midrange organizations-with solutions and expertise that are far superior to the point solutions organizations are forced to purchase today, in terms of risk mitigation and economic return."
By addressing multiple information risk challenges-litigation and investigation, regulatory compliance, business continuity and information governance--with more integrated products, Xiotech believes it can help solve those challenges more effectively and efficiently than today's point-solution approach.
A year ago, Xiotech acquired Norwich, Connecticut-based Daticon to provide expertise in litigation support, paper and electronic archiving and the e-discovery process. The company also opened a software development office in Vancouver, Washington, to develop a new integrated information risk management system, which is expected to be introduced early this year.
