StorageTek, Deloitte partner on compliance

Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) is teaming up with Deloitte Consulting LLP to provide a joint consulting service, the companies announced Monday. The service is aimed at organizations looking to comply with the data storage and archival requirements of regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, governing U.S. public companies, and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) for health care organizations.

StorageTek is due to be acquired by Sun Microsystems Inc. The deal is expected to close Wednesday, assuming the storage company's shareholders vote to approve the move Tuesday.

"We expect to see large deals out of this [relationship]," said Scott Shippee, StorageTek director of professional services, North America. "Sun is very interested in it, it's a significant differentiator. It's a good way to start the new Sun/StorageTek."

Lee Dittmar, leader of Deloitte Consulting's enterprise governance practice, agreed. "Stay tuned," he said. "There's a bigger strategy here," once Sun's acquisition of StorageTek is completed, he added.

"It's brilliant for StorageTek and Deloitte all by themselves," wrote Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst of The Enterprise Strategy Group Inc., in an e-mail comment. "It is even better when you toss Sun into the mix. Sun will be able to hook right into their success -- those customers buy lots of servers, storage and services."

StorageTek and Deloitte will offer the compliance consulting service through the storage company's newly unveiled Intelligent Archiving and Compliance Assessment (IACA) service, also officially announced Monday. The service, an expanded version of StorageTek's existing Business Value Assessment service, will be available to customers in the U.S. and Canada in the fourth quarter of this year, according to StorageTek's Shippee.

IACA comes in three modules or levels of service -- discovery, architecture review and optimization -- each level generating recommendations for customers on better managing their storage environments and complying with both privacy and government requirements.

"Deloitte is the market leader in compliance," Shippee said. "We're merging their expertise with our expertise in storage infrastructure." The deal between the two companies is non-exclusive and the initial contract runs for 26 months following the signing of the agreement on Aug. 22, he added. There will be a single integrated consulting team made up of a total of 50 staff drawn from both Deloitte and StorageTek, according to Shippee.

The partnership between Deloitte and StorageTek is the first of its kind in the market, according to Dianne McAdam, senior analyst and partner with the Data Mobility Group LLC. "I'm not aware of any other vendor agreement," she said. McAdam expects the storage company's competitors to set up similar deals shortly.

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