Storing all its data in four centralized centers also allows the law firm to encrypt and better secure its data, as well as recover it in an emergency.

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All of the big players, and even some not so big players, are battling it out to become the universal, centralized data platform.

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"Maybe my data should be centralized on a server where I can simply access it from any computer with a browser, " says Jerry Michalski, former editor of Esther Dyson's "Release 1.0" newsletter, who recently started a company called Sociate.

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Cloud based computing has centralized e-mail data onto the servers of companies who are well positioned to deal with spam.

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This type of data can easily dilute other useful information, so it is important for companies to implement centralized enterprise information management technologies that can prioritize data to be organized and analyzed.

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Data can be better secured since the management is centralized, even though access is distributed.

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The Community announced today is a first-of-its-kind centralized platform containing over 400 smart disclosure data sets and resources from dozens of agencies across government.

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Despite the fact that foreign dollar deposits are already held at correspondent money center banks in New York, the centralized and unfettered enforcement access to customer data becomes the single greatest aspect of this new deal.

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Putting the bulk of computing and storage in the data center has other perks for IT management: It creates a centralized location for software upgrades across an entire organization and puts a layer of network security between users and sensitive data--a lost thin client laptop, for instance, doesn't contain private information, and so doesn't pose a threat of causing a data breach.

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