Such is my life these days that I frequently find myself sitting in airports doing little more than waiting for delayed flights. Fortunately (well, as fortunate as you can be when you are stranded in Rochester, New York), the airport offers a free wirless Internet connection, so here I am blogging.
Today I had the pleasure of speaking to the New York Chapter of DAMA on long-term data retention and database archiving. This presentation almost always inspires a lively discussion and today was no exception. Responses and questions ranged the gamut from "there sure are a lot of things to consider here that we've never thought about" to "what do you think the probability of being audited really are"... Of course, I had no answer to that last question other than comparing it to insurance... That is, we all buy insurance because we want to be prepared in case the unthinkable happens. Similarly, we need to prepare our organizations for the regulations that apply to our lines of business. And, of course, this will vary from company to company... But the bottom line is that ignoring regulations because they might not be actively or vigorously enforced is an unreasonable course of action. At least I think it is.
Why am I going out and talking to DAMA chapters and database user groups about database archiving? Well, NEON Enterprise Software is in the process of developing a comprehensive database archiving solution that should be available very soon. So keep an eye out for big announcements from NEON Enterprise Software next quarter - and throughout all of next year, actually!
Oh, there is the gate agent announcing that my flight will be arriving within the next half hour - and that is good news. Maybe I will make it home at a reasonable hour tonight after all... and maybe I can catch the last quarter or two of the Pitt - West Virginia game... well, you can't blame a guy for being optimistic, can you? Go Pitt! (perhaps that is a tad too optimistic though)