A Foundational Change in Data Storage and Curation

Relican is dedicated to taking on the ever increasing data capacity crisis. Toward this goal, Relican has developed a simple licensable software product suite that can reside on any system to combat the ever growing need for more space and provide real time curation of that data.

*IDC Digital Universe Study 2012

The Data Capacity Crisis

The amount of data generated in five years spanning from 2010 to 2015 has quintupled from a global data volume of approximately 2 Exabytes to 10 Exabytes. Predictions from an IDC Digital Universe Study in 2012 show that amount growing to an estimated 42 Exabytes by 2020*.

2010 (2)

2015 (10)

2020 (Est. 42)

Current Rate of Expansion

There are a large number of industries attempting to compensate for this expansion by offering tiered and cloud based storage solutions. While these are good solutions, they only stem the crisis temporarily. To address the problem at hand in the most meaningful way, the root issue has to be addressed. That issue is the data's size. Relican's technology addresses the root issue, while leaving the option to use tiered and cloud storage on the table for an organization to choose if needed. Ultimately the goal is to give control of the data back to the organization.

The diagram below details what would happen to the global data volume estimate if the whole of data was converted over to the new foundational format based on Relican's technology. This explanation assumes a 50% data space savings with considerations for overhead and expansion space.

Possible Rate of Expansion

2010 (2)

2015 (10)

2020 (Est. 24)

*IDC Digital Universe Study 2012

The Solution

Relican has created two products: the CornerStone Core software and KeyStone Hub.

KeyStone is a hub that resides on top of CornerStone. This product allows data curation and operation of CornerStone across local networks and the Internet. While the intent is to make it easier to keep data locally, there is no reason why this technology could not be utilized with cloud storage.

The goals of the Relican Product line.

Relican products are hardware and software agnostic Reduce costs for future expansions Recover space on existing storage Reduce or remove the need for third party cloud storage Reduce internal and external network traffic

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CornerStone is the foundational component that restructures data and compresses it in a process referred to as condensing data. This provides the base for additional products to be developed on top of CornerStone.

The Process

Relican has thoroughly tested several types of data. Specifically looking for classes of information that tend to accumulate en masse, our partnership with Froedtert Health has allowed Relican access to medical data types and large repositories such as backup, log, and DICOM files. Additionally, Relican has tested Raw 4K video footage to determine viability as a new class of lossless 4K video for direct play or streaming.

ConversionThe first step in the process is conversion. The RCF framework is created and the output file is populated with converted information. That information is indexed while it is converted then compressed on write to disk. This allows for usage of the file in its new state without having to fully revert the file back to the original format.

ReversionThis process is the opposite of conversion, however it can be done in two ways. The first is full reversion. If the file in RCF format needs to be accessed by someone that does not have Relican's software this can be done in full, restoring the original file. The second is selective and temporary reversion based on the index. This applies to using a file in the RCF format for searching, reading, and modification. All of this can be accomplished without reverting the RCF completely.

TestingTesting was conducted on the file types noted below.

Large Text Files Log Files DICOM Raw Video Backups

25%10%

45% 25%15%

The Competition

While Relican may have a novel approach to dealing with the data storage crisis, it should be noted that there are other options out there. To better understand what they offer, the basic pros and cons compared to Relican's solution have been listed.

Tiered StorageA mix of hardware, usually solid state and spinning disk, that allows for the categorization and indexing of data based on usage and need for accessibility. There are well known solutions available from IBM, DELL, HP, and EMC. However, Tiered Storage requires proprietary hardware and software to manage the system along with workforce expertise and maintenance contracts.

Cloud StorageThis alternative, mainly used for archival, allows for storage of data at a third party location. This can be a favorable option if a data center is running out of physical room or the amount of storage needed is so massive that it would be cost ineffective to build a new facility. Easy expansion and low maintenance costs adds to the appeal. The down-side is derived from the up-side. There are contracts, and cumbersome legal and regulatory requirements that may conflict with an organization's needs. And, once an organization's data is in the cloud, the cloud storage company may change those agreements internally or by government regulation. There is also a risk of data loss if a cloud storage company closes.

GZIPAs the most similar in nature to Relican's CornerStone technology, GZIP has a place in this list. GZIP was developed in 1977. It is free software for the UNIX environment and runs on any system. Comparatively, Relican and GZIP share similar speed in processing. In most cases GZIP is manually executed by command line interface. It is CPU intensive, slowing or stalling other programs. There is the requirement of utility space and the lack of an index. Lastly, the GNU software license prevents GZIP's use in a commercial product.

The CornerStone/KeyStone Difference

The differences between what already exists software and hardware wise is simple.

As fast as GZIPRelican CornerStone/KeyStone runs as fast as GZIP, is system agnostic, retains file usability after conversion, and does not require additional drive space to decompress the zipped file, known as utility space.

Cheaper than Tiered StorageDon't buy additional hardware, reclaim the space already there. This can lead to a positive delay in expansion plans and allow for better use of system expansion funds in the future. If the organization already has tiered storage, then use Relican's technology with it and gain better efficiency.

More secure than the CloudThe cloud is a cheap alternative, but an organization does not own its cloud space, it rents it. Relican's technology allows for an organization to store more in local data centers that it owns. This means known security and policy governance and the ability to directly enforce those requirements on data. The risk of losing track of the data, having it on a cloud that considers it somewhat theirs to use by the EULA, fails to meet regulations, or worse closes its doors, is gone.

Data CurationCustom and automatically generated metadata enables powerful, fast, real-time searching of all files stored on the Keystone Data Hub. Customized metadata allows KeyStone to curate and manage large amounts of data, building a scalable library of rapidly accessible data.

The Advantage

Planning for more storage can be a labor intensive task. The details are tedious, calculations of life cycle, storage expandability inside the environment, and absolute expansion limits of the new hardware. Relican has also detailed costs in these examples based on general understanding of a budget where salary and benefits makes up 40-80% of the allocated funds. Forty-Four percent is budgeted for annual salary in the examples.

Standard ConfigurationThis configuration is an in use data center under normal operation. This represents a production environment without Relican.

Relican ConfigurationWith proper planning and execution and inferring a conservative 50% reduction in data volume, this configuration details how a current data center could be augmented with Relican Technology. It is understood that even with a 50% reduction, buffer storage is left engaged to handle the still expanding storage volume.

Low Power or Off-lined

Core Switch Storage Server

Reduction in cost will be found in the following areas:● Workforce● Energy Consumption● Insurance● Hardware Maintenance● Off-site Backups

Market Opportunity

While Relican started in the healthcare industry with its initial partnership with Froedtert Health, the technology works with any file format and is applicable across a broad spectrum of industries.

Our start with Froedtert HealthThe original software prototypes were created to combat the growing storage concerns of genetic data. Added to that later were HIPAA Log files and DICOM Medical Imaging concerns. Since all of these items require lossless storage options, Relican made certain that the technology converted and restructured data in a non-destructive manner. Testing was successfully conducted on large genetics files (Fastq, SAM, and sequence data), DICOM files, and HIPAA required audit logs. All of these items tested successfully, and Relican and Froedtert Health concluded testing in May 2016. With this success, Relican has access to the Healthcare Industry via Froedtert Health and other organizations tied to healthcare.

Healthcare has a market share in Big Data worth $5.8b as of 2015 and is expected to expand to $18.7b by 2020*.

Expansion to other IndustriesWith the testing at Froedtert Health and a logical extension from imaging to video along with theoretical usage paring Relican's technology with GPU processing, the future holds a vast amount of potential. Because Relican's technology is universal in nature, it can be adopted and integrated by any industry for standard usage or SDK. From faster genetic sequencing, faster data transfer rates over the Internet due to reduced file sizes, to more efficient standard and cloud storage.

As a whole, the Big Data market has a value of $122b and is expected to expand to $187b by 2019**.

Healthcare

Genetics

DICOMHIPAA

Financial

Storage Cloud

Media

Research

Analytics

* Markets and Markets “Healthcare Analytics Market worth $18.7 Billion by 2020” ** Information Week “Big Data, Analytics Sales Will Reach $187 Billion By 2019”

The Licensing Model

Relican's licensing as a four tiered set of options. The first is a free reader for organizations that have not adopted the CornerStone/Keystone suite of software. This allows access to any RCF, but does not allow for modification and only grants access to full reversion if it is required. The second is a standard usage license. This is a site license allowing an organization to deploy CornerStone servers and KeyStone hubs in whatever manner they see fit within the confines of their network. The third is a Software Development Kit or SDK. This includes the site license as part of the licensed material along with the additional permissions to modify or integrate Relican's technology into an existing software product or create a new one. The fourth is a redistributable license. This is an SDK licenses that allows for the creation of a salable product.

Relican will never an organization's data hostage. The free reader license allows for reading and reverting of any data previously condensed

ReaderFree

Read any file condensed to RCF in its original format.

Standard LicenseAnnual Fixed

Full access to CornerStone and Keystone. Provides a full site license to the organization.

Integration (SDK)Annual Fixed

Full access to CornerStone and Keystone code. Provides a full site license to the organization.

Redistributable (SDK)Annual Fixed & Sales Percentile

Full access to CornerStone and Keystone code for salable products.

Contact Information

Relican316 N Milwaukee StSuite 318Milwaukee, WI 53202

Phone: 414-704-6439

Email: Contact@Relican.com