PHILADELPHIA, May 16 -- New developments are constantly occurring within the storage arena. New products and new technologies are hitting the market faster and in greater numbers than ever before. To keep up with these rapid developments, many storage manufacturers are outsourcing their storage service function. And many of them are turning to KODAK Service & Support, Eastman Kodak Company’s worldwide service organization, to provide it. “That service can encompass anything from warranty repairs to performing installation and integration, to managing a help desk function,” said Joanne Boyd, Vice President of Marketing, KODAK Service & Support. “By putting service issues into the hands of a trusted partner, storage manufacturers can devote more time and resources to their core competencies, and focus on providing their customers with cutting-edge storage products.” This applies to a wide range of storage systems that KODAK Service & Support can handle. The group supports the full spectrum of storage technologies, including tape libraries and drives; optical libraries and drives; mass storage devices (NAS/SAN); disk array/RAID systems; and autoloaders. KODAK Service & Support currently provides hardware support for storage devices and systems for 20 leading manufacturers. These services include maintenance agreements, warranty enhancements, installation, training, relocation, data conversion, optical disk cleaning, and help desk support. Recently, the company has focused on the RAID marketplace, signing such manufacturers as Infortrend, JMR Electronics, and Fibrenetix. KODAK Service & Support is the exclusive warranty and post-warranty service provider for Fibrenetix RAID and disk storage systems throughout North America, as well as for JMR’s complete line of innovative storage technologies. And, KODAK Service & Support is the warranty service provider for Infortrend’s EonStor RAID storage subsystems. The rapid pace of growth in the storage marketplace – and the subsequent growth of complementary services – is no coincidence. The rigid requirements of legislation like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have forced companies to do in-depth reviews of the ways they store critical business information. Many companies are drastically overhauling or else just beginning to implement compliant data storage and records management programs. It’s a trend with no sign of slowing, as more companies than ever before rely on storage technologies as a vital part of their business. That’s good news for end users on two fronts. First, it means that they can expect a continuing steady stream of new storage products. And second, it offers assurance that as storage device manufacturers develop the next great storage product, current storage formats won’t simply be abandoned. That’s important because it means that storage technologies purchased today can still be supported tomorrow and for years to come. “Because stored vital business information is so critical, it’s not a function that companies want jeopardized,” Boyd said. “Storage manufacturers are taking those concerns seriously.” KODAK Service & Support is made up of nearly 3,300 professionals reaching more than 120 countries. It is a leading multi-vendor IT services provider, supporting more than 100 manufacturers of document scanners, storage devices and systems, and micrographic imaging equipment.