Bytreon™: A Trusted System for Records You Can’t Afford to Lose
Stored in two separate places. Backed up offline on write-once media. And provably unchanged since the day we preserved them.
Most storage just holds your files. It doesn’t tell you whether they’re still the same files.
Bytreon does both. It keeps multiple protected copies of your records across separate sites and offline media — and it gives every file a cryptographic proof, so anyone can independently confirm that record hasn’t changed by so much as a pixel since the day it was stored.
That matters when the record is a recorded deed, a sealed court file, a building permit, or a 90-year-old roll of microfilm you only get one shot at.
Two problems. One system.
Records people lose sleep over two different things. Most storage vendors only solve one of them.
“Will the record still be there?”
Fires, floods, failed drives, ransomware, and plain human error all happen. A single copy is a single point of failure — and a backup sitting on the same network as the original isn’t much of a backup.
Bytreon writes every file to two independent backend sites that continuously sync, so a failure at one location never puts your records at risk. Then a long-term backup set adds an offline, air-gapped copy in our secure vault, plus write-once M-DISC media that can’t be altered or overwritten.
Ransomware can’t encrypt a disc that isn’t plugged into anything.
“Can I prove the record is real?”
Surviving isn’t the same as being trustworthy. If a record gets challenged in an audit, a public records request, or a courtroom, “it’s been in our system the whole time” is an assertion. It isn’t evidence.
Every file in Bytreon carries a cryptographic timestamp proof built on an open-source protocol. It’s math, not a promise. Your auditor, opposing counsel, or a state archivist can independently confirm the file is bit-for-bit identical to the day it was preserved — using the file and its proof, without going through us at all.
That’s the difference between a copy and a record you can defend.
Tell us what you’re storing. We’ll tell you what it takes to protect it.
How Bytreon works
Four steps, and we handle all of them.
- Simple, secure ingestion. Send records by encrypted SFTP or upload through the portal. Every file is logged and tracked from the moment it arrives.
- Replicated, dual-site storage. Each file is written to two independent backend sites that continuously sync — so a failure at one location never puts your records at risk.
- Immutable, air-gapped backups. A long-term backup set adds an offline copy kept in our secure vault, plus write-once M-DISC media that can’t be altered or overwritten.
- Independent file verification. Every file carries a cryptographic timestamp proof anchored to the world’s most established public blockchain. From the portal, download the file and its proof — or follow the in-app how-to guide — and confirm the record hasn’t changed by so much as a pixel since it was stored.
- Access. Search, retrieve, and verify in the portal. Find a record, view it, download the file, and download its cryptographic proof. A how-to in the app walks you through independent verification.
Who Bytreon is for
Two ways people come to us. Both work the same way once the files are in.
You just finished a scanning project
You spent real money turning microfilm, microfiche, and aperture cards or boxes of paper records into digital files. Bytreon is where those files live afterward: protected, verifiable, and out of the “someone’s desktop and a NAS in the closet” business.
We can load a finished project straight into Bytreon as part of the same job. Nothing extra for you to coordinate.
You already have digital records
Maybe we scanned them years ago. Maybe another vendor did. Maybe they were born digital and have been sitting on a server ever since. Doesn’t matter, Bytreon takes files from anywhere.
Send them over encrypted SFTP or upload through the portal, and we’ll get them replicated, backed up offline, and verifiable. You don’t need a scanning project to use it.
Why it matters for public records
For public records, legal documents, and historical archives, a single copy is a single point of failure.
California and a number of other states expect public agencies to keep electronic records in a “trusted system” — a combination of techniques, policies, and procedures where there’s no plausible scenario in which a document retrieved from the system could differ substantially from what was originally stored. California Government Code §12168.7 is the one most agencies point to.
Bytreon is built around exactly that idea: controlled, logged ingestion; redundant storage across separate sites; write-once media that can’t be overwritten; and independent proof of integrity that doesn’t depend on trusting us. In Bytreon, missing numbers get flagged. If your records are numbered in sequence — deeds, instruments, case files — Bytreon can detect gaps so you know a volume didn’t arrive incomplete.
Why choose Bytreon
Four things clients tell us matter most.
- Simplicity. BMI manages the storage, the backups, and the proof. You use the portal to search, retrieve, and verify.
- Peace of mind. Multiple protected copies across separate sites and offline media. No single point of failure.
- Defensibility. Prove records are authentic and unaltered for audits, public records requests, or court.
- Permanence. Write-once, immutable media built for decades, not years.
Bytreon and Digital ReeL — what’s the difference?
Short version: Digital ReeL is the day-to-day viewer. Bytreon is the trusted archive.
Digital ReeL is our hosted viewer — search phrases, optimize images with enhanced grayscale capabilities, and share digitized microfilm and documents day to day.
Bytreon is a separate application that keeps those files redundant, offline-backed, and independently verifiable. Plenty of clients run both.
Frequently asked questions
What is a trusted system for electronic records?
A trusted system is a combination of technology, policies, and procedures designed so that a document you pull out of the system can’t meaningfully differ from the document that went in. California Government Code §12168.7 defines it that way and requires state agencies to use one for public records stored electronically. In practice it means controlled ingestion, secure and redundant storage, protection against records being overwritten or deleted, and a way to demonstrate integrity over time.
How do you prove a digital file hasn’t been altered?
With a cryptographic hash. Running a file through SHA-256 produces a unique fingerprint, and changing even one pixel or one comma changes that fingerprint completely. Bytreon records the fingerprint along with a timestamp proof built on an open-source protocol and anchored to the world’s most established public blockchain, so anyone can check the file they have today against the proof from the day it was stored. If the fingerprints match, the file is unchanged. No trust required — it’s arithmetic.
Those proofs are also bound into hash-linked blocks in the archive. You can download the file and its proof from the portal and check it yourself; the app includes a File Verification How-To.
Every file has an audit trail — when it arrived, when it was stamped, when it was verified, when it was vaulted and written to disc — plus a downloadable upload report.
What’s the difference between backup and preservation?
A backup is about getting your data back after something breaks. Preservation is about the record still being usable and trustworthy decades from now. Backups get overwritten on a rotation, usually live on the same network as the original, and say nothing about whether the data is authentic. Preservation adds offline copies, write-once media, and proof of integrity. Bytreon does both.
Do we have to scan with BMI to use Bytreon?
No. Bytreon takes files from anywhere — records we scanned, records another vendor scanned, or files that were born digital. If we are doing a scanning project for you, we can load the finished files as part of that job.
What is an air-gapped backup, and why does it matter?
Air-gapped means the copy isn’t connected to any network. Ransomware spreads across connections — if a copy of your records is sitting offline in a vault on write-once media, there’s nothing for the attack to reach and nothing to encrypt. It’s the copy that survives the worst day.
How long will records stored in Bytreon last?
The online replicated copies are actively managed and monitored, so they last as long as you keep the service. The offline backup set uses M-DISC write-once media, which etches data into an inorganic recording layer instead of a dye. NIST accelerated aging tests rate it at 100+ years, the Library of Congress has included it in its preservation research, and Utah’s State Archives adopted it for permanent government records.
Can Bytreon protect us against ransomware?
It’s one of the main reasons clients use it. Ransomware encrypts what it can reach. Dual-site replication means one compromised location doesn’t take out the record, and the air-gapped, write-once backup set is physically unreachable from your network. Even if your primary systems get hit, there’s a clean, verifiable copy to restore from.
How do we get records into Bytreon?
Through an encrypted SFTP process flow, or upload through the portal. Every file is logged and tracked from the moment it arrives, so there’s an ingestion record showing exactly what came in and when.
Helpful Resources
Just getting started on your digital conversion? These are good places to learn more about scanning projects:
- SOC 2 Type II Compliance — how we’re audited.
- BMI blogs — plain-language articles about paper scanning, microfilm conversion, secure processes, and more.
- The Digital Imaging Channel — our YouTube channel that gives you long-form videos and shorts all about digitization projects.
- Project Estimator — before talking to anyone, you can see what your project may cost with our estimator tool. Great as a starting point.
Tell us what you’re storing. We’ll tell you what it takes to protect it.
No obligation and no pressure. Send us the formats, the volumes, and whatever keeps you up at night about those records — and we’ll walk you through exactly what Bytreon would look like for them.