I just ran into an interesting blog kept by Dennis Kennedy, which led me to a rather informative WP on ILM that he authored, titled: Making ‘the Right’ Decision at the Information Lifecycle Management Crossroads.I believe Kennedy wrote that WP for Renew Data Corp. (you can download the document from their site) but it’s nonetheless worthy reading because his analysis of ILM is not constrained by specific vendors solutions. People dealing with ILM are at a crossroad, says Kennedy: One path is to continue with first-generation ILM approaches – ad hoc, after-the-fact, hit-or-miss and vendor-focused, but targeted at problems that actually have occurred, thus benefiting from the learning of actual experiences. The second path, more appropriate today, is to move toward second generation ILM approaches – needs-based and built on integrated business, compliance and policy rules from the beginning, and with a long-term, forward-looking outlook in which upfront investments are traded for long-term savings and other benefits.It makes sense to me, even more so because Kennedy’s points echo others I heard during a recent conversation with Sun and Deloitte Consulting, jointly announcing the institution of the Center for Technology Governance and Compliance (CTGC)While you digest this new acronym, let me give a little background on CTGC. Part of the dowry brought by StorageTek was an existing partnership with Deloitte, that a new agreement extends now to Sun Microsystems but with a more ambitious goal than just the compliance and archiving assessment services offered before. Most companies are still adding specific point solutions (for ILM) but they need to start a journey to make sure that what they run meets not only the operational needs but also the governance and compliance needs of their business says Lee Dittmar, principal at Deloitte Consulting. It’s a journey that we are just beginning and is in that context that this initiative between Deloitte and Sun comes together concludes Dittmar. The two companies have also jointly published a WP that titles: “Raising the Bar for Governance and Compliance” available for download here .Tired of all this ILM talking? Well, you shouldn’t be. ILM is a very important topic and as an IT professional part of your job is to steer your company to make the right choices.Anybody who tells you differently is either poorly informed or drunk, you decide which.