<s>
The	O
Active	B-General_Concept
Archive	I-General_Concept
Alliance	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
trade	O
association	O
that	O
promotes	O
a	O
method	O
of	O
tiered	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
method	O
provides	O
users	O
access	O
to	O
data	O
across	O
a	O
virtual	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
that	O
migrates	O
data	O
between	O
multiple	O
storage	O
systems	O
and	O
media	O
types	O
including	O
solid-state	O
drive/flash	O
,	O
hard	O
disk	O
drives	O
,	O
magnetic	O
tape	O
,	O
optical	O
disk	O
,	O
and	O
cloud	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
of	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
implementation	O
is	O
that	O
data	O
can	O
be	O
stored	O
on	O
the	O
most	O
appropriate	O
media	O
type	O
for	O
the	O
given	O
retention	O
and	O
restoration	O
requirements	O
of	O
that	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
since	O
storage	O
systems	O
such	O
as	O
tape	B-Device
libraries	I-Device
have	O
low	O
power	O
consumption	O
,	O
the	O
operational	O
expense	O
of	O
storing	O
data	O
in	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
is	O
significantly	O
reduced	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Active	B-General_Concept
archives	I-General_Concept
provide	O
organizations	O
with	O
a	O
persistent	O
view	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
in	O
their	O
archives	O
and	O
make	O
it	O
easy	O
to	O
access	O
files	O
whenever	O
needed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Active	B-General_Concept
archives	I-General_Concept
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
metadata	O
to	O
keep	O
track	O
of	O
where	O
primary	O
,	O
secondary	O
,	O
and	O
tertiary	O
copies	O
of	O
data	O
reside	O
within	O
the	O
system	O
so	O
as	O
to	O
maintain	O
online	O
accessibility	O
to	O
any	O
given	O
file	O
in	O
a	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
,	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
storage	O
medium	O
being	O
utilized	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
impetus	O
for	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
applications	O
,	O
or	O
the	O
software	O
involved	O
in	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
,	O
was	O
the	O
growing	O
amount	O
of	O
unstructured	B-Application
data	I-Application
in	O
the	O
typical	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
and	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
manage	O
and	O
efficiently	O
store	O
that	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
result	O
,	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
applications	O
tend	O
to	O
be	O
focused	O
on	O
file	B-Application
systems	I-Application
and	O
unstructured	B-Application
data	I-Application
,	O
rather	O
than	O
all	O
collective	O
data	O
;	O
however	O
,	O
many	O
have	O
features	O
and	O
functions	O
that	O
address	O
traditional	O
backup	B-Protocol
needs	O
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Active	B-General_Concept
archives	I-General_Concept
provide	O
online	O
access	O
,	O
searchability	O
and	O
retrieval	O
of	O
long-term	O
data	O
and	O
enable	O
virtually	O
unlimited	O
scalability	O
to	O
accommodate	O
future	O
growth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
active	B-General_Concept
archives	I-General_Concept
enhance	O
the	O
business	O
value	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
by	O
enabling	O
users	O
to	O
directly	O
access	O
the	O
data	O
online	O
,	O
search	O
it	O
and	O
use	O
it	O
for	O
their	O
business	O
purposes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
is	O
built	O
around	O
a	O
cost-performance	O
ratio	O
,	O
the	O
performance	O
standards	O
of	O
these	O
systems	O
vary	O
significantly	O
based	O
on	O
each	O
individual	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Within	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
the	O
quantities	O
and	O
types	O
of	O
media	O
used	O
are	O
determined	O
by	O
the	O
retention	O
and	O
access	O
requirements	O
of	O
the	O
varying	O
types	O
of	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
in	O
general	O
,	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
systems	O
can	O
recall	O
data	O
to	O
a	O
use	O
ranging	O
from	O
milliseconds	O
to	O
2	O
minutes	O
,	O
depending	O
on	O
what	O
type	O
of	O
media	O
the	O
data	O
is	O
residing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
is	O
being	O
used	O
for	O
storing	O
both	O
primary	O
,	O
secondary	O
,	O
and	O
tertiary	O
copies	O
of	O
data	O
there	O
are	O
several	O
factors	O
that	O
become	O
necessary	O
for	O
the	O
implementation	O
of	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
beyond	O
simply	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
move	O
and	O
access	O
data	O
:	O
data	O
integrity	O
,	O
media	O
monitoring	O
,	O
energy	O
efficiency	O
,	O
and	O
interoperability	O
are	O
all	O
important	O
components	O
of	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Many	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
components	O
include	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
self-healing	O
data	O
within	O
the	O
software	O
,	O
versioning	B-Architecture
,	O
encryption	O
,	O
and	O
media	O
health	O
monitoring	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
is	O
also	O
being	O
used	O
as	O
an	O
archive	O
,	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
automatic	O
migration	O
between	O
storage	O
devices	O
and	O
technologies	O
,	O
vendor	O
neutral	O
formatting	O
,	O
and	O
ILM	O
management	O
are	O
all	O
important	O
components	O
to	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
as	O
well	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
active	B-General_Concept
archiving	I-General_Concept
is	O
often	O
compared	O
to	O
hierarchical	B-Application
storage	I-Application
management	I-Application
(	O
HSM	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
two	O
methods	O
have	O
very	O
different	O
implementations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unlike	O
an	O
HSM	O
,	O
data	O
in	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
remains	O
online	O
regardless	O
of	O
the	O
age	O
or	O
usage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
access	O
pattern	O
in	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
is	O
also	O
different	O
than	O
a	O
traditional	O
HSM	O
in	O
that	O
the	O
data	O
is	O
not	O
automatically	O
restored	O
to	O
the	O
"	O
higher	O
tier	O
"	O
storage	O
system	O
when	O
requested	O
,	O
but	O
rather	O
is	O
accessed	O
directly	O
from	O
the	O
storage	O
device	O
that	O
the	O
data	O
is	O
resting	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
makes	O
every	O
storage	O
device	O
in	O
an	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
both	O
primary	O
storage	O
and	O
archival	O
storage	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
is	O
an	O
archive	O
in	O
the	O
sense	O
that	O
it	O
manages	O
the	O
data	O
within	O
the	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
throughout	O
the	O
lifecycle	O
of	O
that	O
data	O
according	O
to	O
each	O
company	O
's	O
particular	O
Information	B-Protocol
Lifecycle	I-Protocol
Management	I-Protocol
(	O
ILM	O
)	O
policies	O
and	O
procedures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
means	O
that	O
while	O
the	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
serves	O
as	O
the	O
primary	O
storage	O
pool	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
also	O
the	O
final	O
storage	O
location	O
for	O
a	O
file	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Active	B-General_Concept
Archive	I-General_Concept
Alliance	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
trade	O
organization	O
promoting	O
active	B-General_Concept
archives	I-General_Concept
for	O
simplified	O
,	O
online	O
access	O
to	O
all	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
alliance	O
is	O
open	O
to	O
providers	O
of	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
technologies	O
including	O
file	B-Application
systems	I-Application
,	O
active	B-General_Concept
archive	I-General_Concept
applications	O
,	O
cloud	O
storage	O
,	O
and	O
high-density	O
tape	O
and	O
disk	O
storage	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
individuals	O
and	O
end-users	O
.	O
</s>
