1. What is AMO? 

Achive Management.Org (AMO) is a web-based community and information portal for consumers and vendors of electronic data archive technology.  It was founded by the Data Management Institute to aid in providing context and clarity in the world of archive technology.

2. Is AMO a Vendor Organization?

No.  Vendors and service providers are welcome participate in (and sponsor) this site and anticipated activities such as tutorials, seminars, conferences and newsletters.  However, sponsorship or advertising does not give the vendor or service provider any special control over the content of the site.

3. Who's behind AMO?

AMO is an information portal and web community created by the Data Management Institute and Toigo Partners International.  It complements other portals from DMI and TPI covering disaster recovery planning, security planning, storage management, enterprise management, regulatory compliance, and green IT.  Toigo Partners International is a research, consulting and training firm specializing in data management.  The Data Management Institute is a professional organization for those who manage, protect and secure an organization's most irreplaceable asset:  its data.

Like most DMI initiatives, AMO was created in response to concerns that consumers were not getting actionable information from media sources and vendor marketing materials to facilitate their needs.  In the case of AMO, this gap between marketecture and architecture was actually brought to our attention by service providers (consultants, resellers and integrators) who complained that marketing attacks by large vendors of primary storage products were going largely unanswered in the trade press by existing archive organizations.  We decided to do our best to wideband the facts using the web as our bully pulpit.  Hence, AMO.

4. What is the AMO Journal?

AMO Journal is the official webzine (web-based magazine) of the AMO. It offers research, analysis, editorial opinion, and guidance to readers, who are assumed to be consumers who are considering or have already deployed electronic data archive technology.

5. What is AMO Insights?

AMO Insights is a section of this site and of the AMO Journal webzine that features interviews with those who have developed and implemented archives for their organizations (User Corner), so they can provide insights into what technologies, products and services have delivered real business value.  AMO Insights also features Service Provider Focus and Vendor Spotlight sections that feature interviews with vendors, service providers and outsourcers on a periodic basis.

6. What are AMO Guides?

There are presently six AMO Guides covering Archive Media, Archive Techniques, Archive Technology, Archive Platforms, Archive Service Providers, and Archive Outsourcing.  These begin as link lists, with most of the links supplied by vendors and service providers.  However, we will be adding to each link directory product reviews and test lab reports, as well as a user feedback capability, so that linked data can be referenced to ask questions and to provide "in the trenches" feedback.

7. Why AMO?  Why shouldn't planners just join existing organizations like SNIA, OSTA, ARMA or AIIM to get information on archiving?

AMO does not compete with other organizations and we recommend that consumers gather as much information as they can from all existing sources before making decisions about the kinds of technology they will use in their archiving strategy.  AMO is completely free of charge to join and use.  The other organizations listed charge membership fees or sell the reports and publications that they create.  At least one organization on the list is a trade association for the storage industry, hardly a source of factual and unbiased information.

8. What do vendors get from sponsoring AMO?

You mean other than our undying gratitude?  Actually, sponsors get brand recognition in our sponsor listing, plus ad space on the site.  We believe they can also learn a lot from the feedback that consumers provide on the site about their products and services.  Also, since everything on AMO is free, we expect to be able to provide a wealth of data from polls and surveys that vendors and service providers are free to use in their own marketing and sales efforts.

9. How does sponsorship work?

There are two sponsorship levels that work a lot like typical web advertising.  An official sponsor -- vendor or service provider -- pays $750 annually and gets a rotating banner ad on the top of the site.  A partner sponsor oays $3000 per year and receives a rotating skyscraper banner on the site. 

10. What happens to the money?

The more sponsorship funds we can raise, the more we can do with AMO -- including hiring a dedicated editorial staff, generating more original content, creating monthly newsletters, and hosting archive seminars and conferences.