Iron Mountain Digital Study Shows 66 Percent of Escrow Deposits are
Incomplete; 92 Percent Require Additional Input from Programmers
ORLANDO, Fla., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IACCM Americas 2009 --
Iron Mountain Digital, the technology arm of Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:
IRM), will announce the results of its recent survey on verification services
for technology escrow, including software escrow and source code escrow, at
the International Association for Contract & Commercial Management's IACCM
Americas 2009 conference in Orlando, Florida, April 23-24.
The theme of this year's IACCM conference is "Managing Commitments in
Turbulent Times." Iron Mountain's focus on the imperative of coupling
verification services with technology escrow is an important and timely topic.
Tim Cummins
, IACCM's CEO states, "Current economic conditions have placed
enormous stress on the ability of most companies to monitor risk. The use of
reliable specialists -- such as Iron Mountain -- represents good governance
and smart risk management. It is certainly a strategy being followed by many
of our top-performing members."
As IT departments and contract managers work together to license
technology, they look to put safeguards in place in the event that the
technology provider may go out of business, merge with or get acquired by
another company, lay off key technical staff, or fail to provide support for
their technology. Savvy organizations protect themselves from the occurrence
of such unforeseen circumstances with technology escrow agreements.
"Technology escrows are like 'prenups' for software vendor relationships,"
explains
John Boruvka
, vice president of intellectual property management at
Iron Mountain Digital. "No one goes into a marriage thinking it's going to
fail, but prenuptial agreements make for great safeguards -- just in case."
With escrows in place, organizations can ensure their access to critical
application source code should disaster strike. And technical verification
services provide added assurance that all of the necessary components are
included in the escrow deposit, and are in working order.
IDG Research Services polled and received responses from 174 information
technology and business leaders across a broad range of industries, and 62
percent of responding companies reported that they always or sometimes include
escrow as part of their software agreements. Why do CIOs rely on escrow
arrangements? Most respondents point to the obvious: They're a precaution,
should the licensing vendor go out of business. Slightly fewer respondents,
meanwhile, say it protects them in case the vendor stops or decreases support,
while still others say it is part of a larger risk management policy.
However, according to Iron Mountain Digital statistics, 66 percent of
technology escrow deposits are incomplete, while an astounding 92 percent
require additional input from programmers. "The whole idea behind any
technology or software escrow is to be able to put released software to work
immediately," according to Boruvka. "Yet, as these statistics suggest, we
routinely find that there is not enough information to hit the ground
running."
Verification services provide a quality control mechanism for validating
that an escrow deposit contains what's needed -- and what's contracted -- and
that the code will be usable when it's needed. There are varying levels of
service, chosen based on the unique requirements and risk thresholds
associated with specific applications. Many CIOs are using verification
services in order to validate the completeness and accuracy of their escrow
deposits while increasing their confidence in them. In fact, in the IDG
survey, 46 percent of respondents reported that they consider it critical or
very important that their escrow agreement includes the rights to perform
verification services by a third party.
The IDG Research survey reveals how technology escrow agreements and
verification services can safeguard investments against contract breaches,
discontinued support and vendor bankruptcy, all of which pose even greater
risks in a difficult economic climate. For the complete survey results,
download Iron Mountain Digital's white paper titled, "How to Minimize Risk
with a Software Vendor Prenup," on the Intellectual Property Protection
section of Iron Mountain's Knowledge Center.
About Iron Mountain Digital
Iron Mountain Digital is the world's leading provider of Storage-as-a
Service solutions for data protection and recovery, archiving, eDiscovery and
intellectual property management. The technology arm of Iron Mountain
Incorporated offers a comprehensive suite of solutions to thousands of
companies around the world, directly and through a worldwide network of
channel partners. Iron Mountain Digital is based in Southborough, Mass.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE: IRM) helps organizations around the
world reduce the costs and risks associated with information protection and
storage. The company offers comprehensive records management and data
protection solutions, along with the expertise and experience to address
complex information challenges such as rising storage costs, litigation,
regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. Founded in 1951, Iron Mountain is
a trusted partner to more than 120,000 corporate clients throughout North
America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit
the company's Web site at www.ironmountain.com.
Media Contact:
Maria Doyle
Public Relations
(781) 964-3536
maria@doylestratcomm.com
SOURCE Iron Mountain Incorporated
CONTACT:
Maria Doyle
, Public Relations, +1-781-964-3536
maria@doylestratcomm.com
Web Site: http://www.ironmountain.com