Swede1013

Speedy deletion of Data Securities International

A tag has been placed on Data Securities International requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a company or corporation, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is notable: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not indicate the subject's importance or significance may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, as well as our subject-specific notability guideline for companies and corporations.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the article's talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. NeilN ^{talk ♦ contribs} 17:05, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Notability of Data Securities International

The article Data Securities International has been speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This was done because the article seemed to be about a real person, organization (band, club, company, etc.), or web content, but it did not indicate how or why the subject is notable, that is, why an article about that subject should be included in Wikipedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not indicate the notability of the subject may be deleted at any time. If you can indicate why the subject is really notable, you are free to re-create the article, making sure to cite any verifiable sources.

Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, and for specific types of articles, you may want to check out our criteria for biographies, for web sites, for musicians, or for companies. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. J Milburn (talk) 17:08, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Data Securities International

Are you saying Data Securities International invented software escrow? If so, please provide a third party reference and that should be enough to show notability. --NeilN ^{talk ♦ contribs} 17:50, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Many articles were written about DSI in the 1980 and 1990 before the internet and mostly on paper, I thought it would be a good idea to have an historical time for the creation of a new industry.

See Why uncertain economics have generated a boom in software escrow "Front Range Tech Biz" 10/11/2002 By Emily Frye, Emily Frye is president of Frye-Consulting in Westminster, which helps companies understand and reduce the risks of adopting digital technologies. She can be reached at FryeConsulting@aol.com.

Swede1013.

Yes, but if you're claiming DSI invented software escrow we really do need a source for that. --NeilN ^{talk ♦ contribs} 17:59, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Here is the article...

Why uncertain economics have generated a boom in software escrow 10/11/2002 4:33:00 PM By Emily Frye

Twenty-five years ago, a young mathematician named Dwight Olson saw an opportunity in the infant software industry.

Software companies, then as now, often had unpredictable and difficult-to-understand business cycles. They were formed and dissolved, merged or acquired with regularity. They were generally created around a useful idea, and sometimes produced terrific products.

But if you wanted to use one of these products, you had to accept the substantial risk that the company behind the product would be gone before the useful life of the software had expired. Once the company was gone, you were on your own: no more tech support, no more bug fixes, no more product updates.

This risk, sometimes called “evaporative risk,” proved a deterrent to the adoption of innovative software products from smaller vendors. Olson wanted to find a way to control evaporative risk. What if, he asked, software source code could be stored in a safe place — a place where competitors couldn’t access it, the developer still had control of it, and users could obtain it in the event that the owner-originator evaporated?

The source code could be released to those who had paid for it in the event that the software company simply no longer existed to support it, or perhaps if the software provider materially breached a maintenance agreement.

Such an idea would work only if a neutral third party held the software for the benefit of both the software developer and user. “Software escrow” was born.

Olson’s business, Data Securities International, grew slowly and steadily for 20 years, and he eventually sold it to Iron Mountain. Today, it is the largest of several software escrow providers in the marketplace.

Once burned, twice shy

Since 2000, however, software escrow has expanded at a faster rate than ever. To some extent, this is due to an expansion in regulatory diligence requirements in the financial sector. But to an even greater extent, software escrow expansion is probably attributable to something else entirely: economic uncertainty.

With software companies vanishing faster than ever, the risk of losing access to an intact copy of key applications is growing.

Managers need to understand software escrow today in order to protect themselves while running a business. For many years, software had a lifecycle so short that most users never even considered the implications of long-term reliance.

As the industry has matured, entrenched user bases have grown. As entrenchment increases, so does reliance. Users and IT managers now realize they can ill afford the evaporation of key systems. If their software malfunctioned and they needed to reinstall it, but the provider had vanished, users need simple, efficient solutions to restore business function.

Through the 1980s and ’90s, many companies experienced the crippling consequences of provider evaporation. The demand for software escrow grew from these corporate mishaps. DSI’s client base, for instance, grew 500 percent between 1991 and 2001 (according to Andrew Moore, director of marketing communications for Iron Mountain).

Functional insurance plus measurable business benefit

Today’s managers are aware of the increase in software company bankruptcies. They can grasp the benefits of an accessible copy of source code. What management may not understand is that software escrow’s benefits extend far beyond functional insurance for clients. It can play an important role in protecting the software provider’s own company.

Savvy business managers are beginning to use software escrow for two additional reasons. First, software developers are using it to store copies of their own software at regular intervals, whether or not it has matured to a new release or version number. The reason is simple: they face the risk of file corruption themselves. If their servers fail, if their tape backups are corrupted, or if an employee walks off with a key element of uncompiled code, they can turn to software escrow to get them up and running where they left off.

Second, business managers increasingly understand the value of their intellectual property portfolio. The value of that portfolio, particularly the patent components, depends crucially upon proving dates of invention. Storing copies of source code with a neutral third party can help substantiate claims about invention, should dates ever be questioned.

Disaster recovery and intellectual-property substantiation were not the original motivation for software escrow, but both functions offer value to technology companies in today’s precarious and highly competitive market.

— Emily Frye is president of Frye-Consulting in Westminster, which helps companies understand and reduce the risks of adopting digital technologies. She can be reached at FryeConsulting@aol.com.

Nomination of Data Securities International for deletion

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Data Securities International is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Data Securities International until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Telluride749 (talk) 09:14, 14 November 2019 (UTC)