A lot of solution providers and the IT organizations they serve don’t always appreciate just how much data can be stored on a disk drive these days. In fact, it turns out that when it comes time to replace a drive many organizations are faced with a regulatory and compliance conundrum. The drive can be reused for other applications. But all the data on that drive needs to be completely removed.
To address that issue Ingram Micro has extended an existing distribution partnership with Blancco Technology Group into North America. The alliance with Ingram extends a set of asset disposition services that Ingram already provides by making it possible to sanitize and certify that either a hard disk drive or solid-state drive (SSD) has been wiped completely of all data, says Matt Sturges, vice president of global channels for Blancco Technology Group.
“Drives are expensive,” says Sturges. “Nobody wants to drill a nail through them if they can find a way to reuse them.”
The spectre of more stringent regulations such as the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) set to be enforced by The European Union starting at the end of May is also spurring interest in drive sanitization, says Sturges. The cost of violating the GDPR mandate can be as high as four times annual revenues. Organizations want to be certain there is no personally identifiable information (PII) accidentally left on a drive.
Unfortunately, too many solution providers overlook the asset disposal and recycling opportunity, says Sturges. Making sure drives are completely wiped clean of data creates the opportunity for traditional resellers to provide a relatively simple managed service, he notes.
At this juncture, it’s now only a matter of time before more nations start to enforce similar rules to the ones being implemented by the EU. The average citizen is a lot more aware of the value of their personal data than ever, which is creates an easy issue for politicians to seize on.
Regardless of how they may feel about those regulations, compliance mandates almost invariably wind up creating new business opportunities for channel partners.
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