Hu's Blog

Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) is an object store that enables application data to be stored with metadata that describes the content and policies that govern the data. When data is stored with metadata and policies, it becomes a future-proof self-describing object that is no longer dependent on the originating application.  Independent objects can be accessed by other authorized applications. HCP can store related objects in a multi-tenant environment to provide different access and retention management. Access can be done through metadata queries, and access is controlled by an object level ACL (Access Control List). With RESTful interfaces, HCP is an ideal object store for the cloud.

So how does one create metadata and transform data into objects for ingestion into HCP?  HCP enables the create and ingest objects via standard protocols like NFS, CIFS, HTTP or WebDAV. Metadata may be specified by associating an XML document with an HCP object. Hitachi Data Systems has developed a rich menu of available products to do this for standard applications. Here is a partial list for some of the major applications. Some of these are Hitachi Data Systems products and some are from third parties:

• HNAS is the Hitachi high performance NAS filer that has an object based file system. The metadata associated with this file system enables it to not only tier data based on their metadata, but also to stub files with this metadata into the HCP.
• HDI, the Hitachi Data Ingestor is an edge device that serves as an NFS or CIFS filer on the edge and replicates files over HTTP to an HCP. This eliminates the need to do backup since there are two copies of the file, one at the edge and the other at the central HCP. When a file is updated, the updated file is versioned, so that the original file can be accessed. As the capacity on the edge fills up, older files are stubbed out to the HCP, keeping the more recent files immediately available. HDI also allows specified files to be pinned in the edge device.
• HDPS, Hitachi Data Protection Suite, can backup files, and then archive the files directly to HCP reducing the need to keep multiple copies of backup or files that become static.
• HCR, Hitachi Clinical Repository, will translate the DICOM headers to metadata and ingest clinical data into HCP
• HDD-MS, Hitachi Data Discovery for Microsoft, works with SharePoint to ingest BLOBs from a SQL database into HCP and makes them accessible through a query against the metadata, controlling the growth of SharePoint BLOBs.
• HCP Streamer for Enterprise Vault provides new support for email archive. While HCP has been supported since Version 6 of Enterprise Vault, with the Streamer interface, Enterprise Vault will be able to take better advantage of HCP features, communicate with HDS over the enhanced REST interface, place data in secure authenticated namespaces, and validate that data has been successfully replicated to a remote HCP before creating safety copies.
• Star-Storage provides a Documentum Connector for HCP which moves or copies documents from Documentum to HCP over HTTP. Documents can be accessed through HCP or Documentum. It is mainly managed by Documentum Administrator, using standard Documentum functions for content lifecycle management.
• Open Text Enterprise Library for SAP. In addition to SAP Archive by OpenText and SAP Document Access by OpenText, which are resold by SAP, OpenText also offers extensions that enable organizations run­ning SAP software to securely manage all documents and content (including content from non-SAP sources) within a single HCP repository.
• Hitachi Content Platform and SAP NetWeaver Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) provide the ideal combination to the decommission legacy SAP systems. The SAP NetWeaver Information Lifecycle Management component facilitates decom­missioning of legacy SAP (and non-SAP) systems. Content that must be liberated from the system to be decommissioned is identified and migrated to a retention warehouse. The retention warehouse system works in concert with HCP, an SAP certified “ILM-aware storage system.” Hitachi Content Platform is the only storage system to support the SAP ILM WebDAV interface natively. It maintains the content in tamper­proof form and enforces the SAP provided retention and destruction rules.

For the latest on our HCP solutions, visit  http://www.hds.com/products/file-and-content/content-platform/or like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HitachiContentPlatform.