DIRECTIVE 2006/24/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 March 2006
on the retention of data generated or processed in connection with the provision of publicly available electronic communications services or of public communications networks requires that all telecommunications companies deploy and make available a highly efficient database system.

Telecommunications companies are required to retain data about all outgoing, incoming and attempted calls and all sent and received messages (SMS, EMS, MMS).

The demanded level of confidentiality and security of the retained data means that the database used to fulfil the obligations of the Directive 2006/24/EC needs an additional layer of authorization mechanism. The chosen database ought to be efficient enough, while at the same time it must provide data protection against destruction, loss or alteration.

Using a typical relational (SQL) database for such a solution means a very high total cost of ownership - both because of software licences (usually sold on per-CPU basis) and high-end multi-processor servers.

Acclaimed IT consultants warn about high risks associated with maintenance of a multi-terabyte database. Because of sheer volume of the data restoring typical data structures for relational database may take days or even weeks.

The tlSpeed database allows handling up to 100 GB of daily data on a relatively small server.

Hardware required for such an installation consists of a double dual-core CPU Intel/AMD server and disk arrays capable of storing data for the required period of data retention (2 to 5 years in EU countries).

In order to handle up to 10 search queries per second one can either deploy another similar server or enhance the indexing server with additional CPUs and RAM. Please note that the main factors of search speed are the characteristics of the disk array – thus quick array controllers and disks should be used.

Any disk arrays may be used to retain the data. tlSpeed allows to redefine the disk space on-line - therefore new disks might be added as the need arises, reducing entry costs. Thanks to the data compression tlSpeed makes use of the storage space in a very effective way.