Army fortifies records storage

The Army and ECCS Inc. have installed the largest segment of the service'snew data storage system for personnel records, the company announced Feb.8.

The installation of 3.6 terabytes worth of storage for enlisted personnelrecords at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, is the latest successfulimplementation of the Army's new Personnel Electronic Records ManagementSystem (PERMS). The system is intended to provide significant cost savingsand enable government personnel to have direct control over data.

The three operating installations — the Enlisted Records EvaluationCenter, Indianapolis; the National Guard Bureau, Arlington, Va.; and ManagementService Records for Army officers, Alexandria, Va. — store a total of 5.6terabytes of data.

"A lot of people need fast, trouble-free access to this data — perhapsas many as 500,000 soldiers and individual support agencies — in order toprocess the records and assist our Army personnel," said James Riggs, theArmy's program manager for PERMS. Riggs described the recent installationas "a truly massive challenge."

The Army is using ECCS' systems to enhance data protection and accessibility.

The personnel records are converted from paper files by scanner andfrom optical platters in large media libraries to disk format. The resultis faster, easier and less expensive access to the data.

The ECCS data storage engines make the data easily available to militarypersonnel or to agencies, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs orthe Education Department.