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In the mid-1930s, an enterprising guy named Herman Knaust purchased a depleted iron ore mine located in upstate New York and about 100 acres around it, and began a mushroom-growing business. By the 1950s, however, the mushroom business was, well, just not growing. So Knaust came up with a new idea: What better use for a "useless" iron ore mine during the height of atomic-bomb hysteria in the U.S. than to convert the mine into the ultimate fallout shelter, housing vital corporate information and, in case of attack, the executives (and their families) of top U.S. companies? Since that time, Iron Mountain has emerged above-ground as a Fortune 100 company and has grown its storage business to include a technology escrow service. As a trusted, neutral party, it stores and manages everything from paper records to chip designs to X-rays to DNA sequencing information, for individuals and enterprises, all over the world.

In this podcast interview, Tom Parish talks with Iron Mountain executive John Boruvka, who notes that Iron Mountain is often an "unsung hero," quietly helping both buyer, and seller companies mitigate risks associated with investing in new technologies and intellectual property. Iron Mountain provides the comfort factor for firms investing in a product developed by a start-up company, for example; the seller can escrow source code and other information just to assure the buyer that it won't ever be dependent on unsupported technology. In the case of intellectual property, Iron Mountain has helped firms avoid costly patent disputes by housing detailed records of product development. The company has even helped in the new (and murky) area of separating proprietary, from open-source code in new software development projects, and in ensuring that the open source code truly is in the public domain.

Iron Mountain is one of those infrastructure companies that you seldom hear much about, but when you need them ... boy, do you need them! Tune in to this interview that might just get you thinking about how your company may move forward with more speed and agility by mooring some of the responsibilities you've got on board in a safer harbor.

Resources

Iron Mountain and Technology Escrow

Managing an Escrow Release

Bio

John Boruvka, vice president for Iron Mountain's Intellectual Property Management business unit, has been involved in the technology escrow field for more than 18 years. His focus is helping companies create solutions relating to protecting intellectual property assets. Mr. Boruvka is considered an authority in the field of technology escrow and issues surrounding the role of a neutral third party in protecting intellectual property.

Production Credits

Dana Farver, Executive Producer, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Web Developer