INTERVIEW WITH JOHN BURGESS OF FILETEK INC
by Tim Staub, assistant editor

John Burgess, Co-founder, vice president, and CTO of FileTek Inc, talks about his company and its new Cetera Internet-based digital storage service.

DSstar: Can you tell us a bit about FileTek?

BURGESS: FileTek is a data management solutions provider that was established in 1984. Its StorHouse technology is a software product that has the unique ability to relationally access detailed, un-summarized, information across all storage media, including tape. What StorHouse does, in essence, is reduce the total cost of ownership of information by bringing all types of cost-effective storage media online to applications.

In terms of data warehousing, StorHouse's ability to reduce storage costs has allowed organizations to build some of the largest in the world. In fact one of our customers, The Met. Office (weather bureau) of the United Kingdom, is using our technology to build a petabyte-plus size repository. Other companies, especially in the telecommunications industry, are using StorHouse to build data warehouses upwards to fifty terabytes.

StorHouse's capacity to hold un-summarized, detailed information on high-speed digital tape and let the user access row-level data, gives them advantages over users of traditional data warehouses. Only the required information is transferred up the hierarchy, not whole files containing irrelevant data. And most notably, StorHouse can do this in a very cost-effective way, much more effective than a disk or disk/optical only system. In a nutshell, StorHouse brings tape "online," providing an affordable data warehouse.

DSstar: How does Cetera fit into the picture?

BURGESS: Cetera is a managed digital storage service launched by FileTek earlier this year. It offers all the power and features of StorHouse, but over remote, IP-based access. So now organizations who are in the gigabyte storage range can take advantage of what has, until now, been the domain of the larger corporations.

DSstar: What are the differences between Cetera and traditional storage service providers (SSP)?

BURGESS: Many. Like conventional SSPs, Cetera offers advantages to the customer such as avoiding the costs of managing a complex database. Also, such expenses as hardware, software, and personnel are absorbed by Cetera. But that is where the similarities end.

First, and foremost, Cetera is not a "storage-for-rent" service. It is a digital storage service to manage and access both traditional data as well as rich media objects, like images or videos. It does this by providing secure relational access by using industry standard SQL. Relational SQL statements may be invoked by application programs or through tools that use ODBC. This, in turn, protects the investments companies have made in their applications and the associated training of their staff.

Cetera also differs from other SSPs by providing DBA service support representatives who are responsible for all database planning and maintenance tasks. Cetera's multi-server and IP connectivity allows customers to access their data concurrently from multiple client systems, in different geographical locations, using a standard Internet connection.

DSstar: What benefits do these differences bring to your customers?

BURGESS: In short, an affordable, large database under $5 per gigabyte. In our comparative studies, this is between one-eighth to one-twelfth the cost of other SSPs. Another benefit Cetera brings is that we allow customers to migrate their data to an in-house FileTek managed system, or convert to an outright StorHouse license purchase. This gives them flexibility and the security of knowing that they will always managing their data at the lowest possible cost. These migration options might include credit for previously paid Cetera services.

DSstar: What platforms and applications does Cetera support?

BURGESS: Cetera is platform independent because it uses a standard Web browser for interaction. And because Cetera uses StorHouse technology, it can link to almost any application using an ODBC gateway.

DSstar: Where's Cetera fit in data warehousing?

BURGESS: We all know that the amount of data is growing exponentially. To combat this seemingly unmanageable data flood, more and more organizations are requiring a data warehouse. The big issue for a lot of them is cost. Until a company is managing a certain amount of data, the total cost of ownership of that information can be enormous with an in-house solution.

Cetera offers mid-level as well as large enterprises a chance to cost-effectively create an off-site, Internet-based data warehouse which has all the advantages of a relationally accessed in-house system. And to do it with virtually no upfront costs for hardware, software, DBAs, or other requirements. Also, utilizing Cetera will lead to more rapid implementation of the data warehousing applications that deliver true business value.

After a customer's Cetera data warehouse has grown to a certain size, they may find it more advantages to bring it within their own company as either a managed service, or an outright license purchase. Either way, Cetera can support it.

Contact Peter Abzug, FileTek Inc, 301-517-1823, pabzug@filetek.com.