Hugh/Jay,

I am not sure if encryption does slow backups. Encryption is a CPU intensive
operation. CPU speed increases significantly each year. It is IO and Network
speeds that increase at a slower rate than data growth.

What needs to be understood here is the obvious disconnect between how IT
people think, and how most other people think.

In IT, theoretically nothing is impossible. In practice IT is about
trade-offs.

Trade-offs are the basis of the SLA (Service Level Agreement).

For instance, does it annoy you that Windows takes 60 seconds to start? We
can fix that for a price. Oh, you are too stingy to pay that price, so let's
agree that 60 seconds is OK.

If we are talking about tapes here, I think people are missing the point if
they think it is about encryption.

Although privacy is now a critical part of our society, the ability of
society to continue to function is more important.

If your offsite vendor is leaving your tapes on the curb, or sending them to
an airfield never to be seen again forget encryption, use the money to put
in place a strong contract and SLA with a competent vendor.

That way, in the event that you need your tapes for a true disaster you are
not left pondering how the company might now be out of business but at least
if the tapes turn up in the hands of someone who has a spare 3490 tape drive
at home people's privacy might be protected.

If you are interested in discussing what you should be putting in an SLA, I
would be more than happy to assist.

Gerard

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