Library and Archives Canada (LAC) selects
TeraMach and Preservica to centralize and preserve digital
documentary history for all Canadians
OTTAWA and BOSTON, Nov. 13, 2018 /CNW/
- Library and Archives Canada (LAC), one of the world's
largest library and archival institutions, has embarked on a
large-scale, multi-stream initiative to move its extensive
collection of digital records to a new digital platform to make it
easier for Canadians to access published and archival records of
historical and modern-day significance.
The project is one of the largest digital preservation programs
initiated globally in recent years. It will see the government
agency start processing more than 7 petabytes of digital records
into the new digital archive.
To help in this nationally important project, LAC has selected
Ottawa-based TeraMach, a Pivot
Company (TSX: PTG) and Canada's specialist in delivering flexible
on-premise and cloud-hosted technology solutions, and Preservica, a
global leader in active digital preservation software. TeraMach
will support LAC in the design, installation and maintenance of the
overall solution. Preservica's technology will be used to protect
and future-proof LAC's unique digital records ensuring they can be
easily found and remain accessible for future generations.
Terms of the multi-year agreement were not disclosed but are not
material to Pivot.
According to LAC Director General of Digital Operations and
Preservation, Sylvain Bélanger, the new system is ideal in its
ability to address the multi-stream element of this large scale
digital ingest and preservation initiative: "LAC has so many
different roles, and within this initiative there are many
different streams including addressing the automation of processes
surrounding records we receive. In the past, we used multiple
products and approaches to address different streams but with this
new centralized system we'll be at the forefront of digital ingest
and preservation, and we can focus on delivering practical ways of
helping Canadians to innovate using information from the
collection."
With LAC receiving millions of digital records to add to the
Canadian collection, in various formats from Canadian government
agencies, the library community, and private donors, LAC's
dedicated digital experts needed a digital platform that could
automate workflows and operate at scale.
"We're very proud to be selected by LAC to help safeguard the
country's rich and growing collection of digital content," said
Hunter Li, President and CEO of
TeraMach, a Pivot Company. "The new platform will use the AWS cloud
infrastructure in Canada as part
of the TeraMach Cloudx solution. This important award allows us to
showcase the advanced and comprehensive IT solutions that are
embodied in TeraMach Cloudx which enables express connectivity to a
broad array of SaaS provider solutions including AWS, Microsoft
Azure, IBM Cloud and Preservica. Cloudx is proven and validated
across a wide variety of institutional and business
applications."
Preservica CEO Mike Quinn
welcomes LAC to the growing number of government institutions and
national archives around the world entrusting valuable digital
records to Preservica: "It's an honour to play a role in helping to
preserve the documentary heritage of Canada now and for future generations, and to
be part of the Canadian government's focus on cloud first. Being
part of such a large-scale digital preservation program is an ideal
opportunity to showcase how Preservica is helping organizations
scale their archives and increase the use of unique digital assets
to enrich citizen services and cultural initiatives."
As custodian of Canada's past
and recent history, LAC's digital archive will serve to promote
greater accessibility of documentary heritage records for
Canadians, with collections that include Government of Canada records, censuses, personnel records of
the Canadian Armed Forces, genealogy and family history,
immigration records, published works, and theses from Canadian
universities since 1965, as well as its extensive audio visual
collection.
LAC's previous in-house built solutions were nearing end of
life, and as such LAC identified a clear requirement for a
centralized system that could support the high-volume digital
preservation requirements of its multiple streams as well as
connect to the existing metadata catalogues and systems for library
and archival materials.
With continued growth in digital content and the need to
preserve data for continuity, legal and compliancy requirements,
organizations worldwide are becoming aware of the serious risk of
stored digital data older than 10 years becoming unreadable and
obsolete.
About Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives
Canada was established to: preserve the documentary heritage of
Canada for the benefit of present
and future generations; to be a source of enduring knowledge
accessible to all, contributing to the cultural, social and
economic advancement of Canada as
a free and democratic society; to facilitate in Canada co-operation among communities involved
in the acquisition, preservation and diffusion of knowledge; and,
to serve as the continuing memory of the Government of Canada and its institutions.
About TeraMach, a Pivot Company
Since 1996, TeraMach
(www.teramach.com) works with organizations across Canada to implement proven, scalable
technology solutions. Our focused approach and agility to address
new challenges allow us to deliver flexible solutions that
customers can trust. TeraMach became a Pivot Company in 2016. Pivot
Technology Solutions, Inc. is an industry leading information
technology services and solutions provider to many of the world's
most successful companies, including members of the Fortune 1000,
as well as governments and educational institutions. For more
information, visit www.pivotts.com.
About Preservica
Preservica is changing the way
organizations around the world protect and future-proof critical
long-term digital information. Available in the cloud (SaaS) or
on-premise, our award-winning active digital preservation software
has been designed from the ground-up to tackle the unique
challenges of ensuring digital information remains accessible and
trustworthy over decades.
It's a proven solution that's trusted by business, archives,
libraries, museums and government organizations around the world -
including the UK National Archives, Texas State Library and
Archives, MoMA, Yale and HSBC - to
name a few. Preservica is an AWS Government Competency Partner
meeting the highest levels of availability, reliability and
security for government workloads and data.
Visit: www.preservica.com Twitter: @preservica
SOURCE Pivot Technology Solutions