Iron Mountain Subsidiary’ Stratify Introduces eDiscovery DR

Stratify, Inc., a subsidiary of Iron Mountain Incorporated, announced the availability of the first enterprise-grade electronic discovery disaster recovery protocol. To safeguard client eDiscovery data, Stratify has invested in and deployed a fully replicated production datacenter with more than 250 terabytes of storage, 200 servers and redundant 100MB internet access, coupled with highly trained personnel and security procedures. Stratify’s aggressive disaster recovery service levels radically reduce the risk of data loss through natural or man-made disasters and minimize potential downtime regardless of matter size, number of reviewers, or the number of matters under active management.

"Stratify’s deployment of a fully replicated, SAS-70 compliant production datacenter signifies a giant step forward for electronic discovery," states Sue Feldman, Research Vice President, Search and Discovery Technologies, IDC. "This raises the bar for the entire industry and is a clear indication of the growing maturation of the eDiscovery market. Stratify has addressed the growing need for enterprise-grade eDiscovery disaster recovery to protect clients’ data."

With electronic discovery becoming increasingly business-critical, general counsel, CIOs and outside counsel are demanding stringent disaster recovery capabilities similar to those implemented for enterprise datacenters. Stratify’s SAS-70 compliant replicated datacenter is located in seismically neutral Sacramento, CA, 120 miles removed from its primary production datacenter in San Jose, CA. Aggressive replication procedures are designed to ensure 100 percent recovery of all processed and loaded documents and system metadata, and to meet a Recovery Point Objective (RPO) of 0-59 minutes for review work product. eDiscovery RPO is the point in time to which clients can recover review-based data transactions such as tagging, document redaction, etc.

Stratify currently has over 250 matters under active management. In the event of a disaster all new client sessions would be automatically and seamlessly transferred to the disaster recovery datacenter with no changes to the procedures that clients use to access and work on their matters. The datacenter is designed to meet a Recovery Time Objective (RTO) of one to four hours for all client matters. eDiscovery RTO is the duration of time within which client access to an eDiscovery matter must be restored after a disaster.

"Stratify has a well-earned reputation as a leading eDiscovery solution provider," said Jeanne Baughman, Associate General Counsel, Litigation for the Washington Division of URS Corporation. "Disaster recovery is a critical element to protect our data and work product, especially in high-pressure matters, and ensure that we do not have to worry about access to our information. We applaud Stratify on their initiative to make disaster recovery a de facto aspect of all eDiscovery moving forward."

As a global eDiscovery leader with more than 500 completed matters and in excess of 250 matters under active project management, these enhanced capabilities continue Stratify’s history of consistently introducing new, advanced capabilities as part of the Stratify Legal Discovery service into the eDiscovery market to minimize the risk and reduce the cost of eDiscovery. Stratify’s eDiscovery disaster recovery datacenter is built on a N+1 redundant architecture that provides backups to all system components in the datacenter throughout the hardware and storage stack, including servers, storage, power supplies, routers and internet connectivity. As a result, in the event of a disaster that requires the use of the replicated datacenter, failure of any individual component in the datacenter will not impair operations and client access to their matters. In addition, the data center is monitored in real-time 24×7 using state-of-the-art monitoring and surveillance tools. Stratify can restore access to client matters within four hours after a potential disaster, recover 100 percent of processed and loaded documents and system metadata, and lose no more than 59 minutes worth of review work product.

"The current financial crisis highlights the increasingly business-critical role that electronic discovery has assumed for general counsel in large corporations and their outside counsel," stated Ramana Venkata, Senior Vice President at Iron Mountain and Stratify’s General Manager. "In fast-breaking investigations or bet-the-company litigation, data loss or significant down-time is simply not an option. The disaster recovery infrastructure and procedures that Stratify is announcing today will make sure that our clients never encounter such situations."

Stratify complements this new disaster recovery infrastructure with business continuity protocols for client matters, maintaining a back-up team of project managers, business analysts and engineers in its Bangalore office who are available 24×7 to provide high-level service for matters in the event that personnel at Stratify’s Mountain View and/or Boston offices become unavailable.