What do you need email archiving for?
Your organization needs to be clear on this, or it could end up with a completely over-engineered and expensive solution that's just not necessary. There are 3 main reasons to archive email - regulatory compliance, internal policy and capacity management. Most organizations need to archive for one or more reasons to minimize risk and improve system resource usage.
Compliance
Regulations in the US say many organizations need a secure and audited copy of every internal and external email to be kept in a searchable archive. These regulations apply to many UK companies doing business in the US and the philosophy seems likely to be applied in the EU in the next couple of years. To meet regulations, emails must be copied to a secure archive and indexed for fast retrieval. This sort of archiving does not need to affect the users' mailboxes at all.
Policy
Automated rules-driven archiving for best-practice data retention and email management. Common sense says that long-term email storage needs managing in line with your data strategy, not only to reduce legal risk but also to improve resource usage. What is archived, where to store it and for how long, while retaining user access to emails, are the critical factors.
Capacity management
Oversized mailboxes are slowing down the email systems that just weren’t built for that much volume. Archiving from overloaded mailboxes on to more efficient media can be better for the user in terms of response and the IT team for resource usage.
We back-up email, why is that not good enough?
Archiving is all about long term retention and accessibility. Not just saving email but knowing where it is for timely retrieval, should internal or legal reasons dictate. Your back-up strategy probably doesn’t accommodate precise retention periods, which can be several years or even indefinite, which must match the retention requirements of different parts of the organization.
Why is email so different from our other data?
Email is unstructured and largely uncontrolled information; it needs indexing to become manageable and to minimize its inherent risk and inefficiencies. For example, if mailboxes are restricted by size quotas, end users may create PST files to stay within their limit. PST files have well known practical limitations, they are difficult to locate and manage, and are likely to increase housekeeping tasks for both end users and administrators.
How do I manage the storage that email uses over time?
Like any data, email requires different storage media over its lifecycle. Archiving software should integrate with your HSM or back-up management software, to streamline email into your main storage strategy.
Can I just plug this in and get going, or are we talking a major project here?
It really depends on which vendors you look at. Some require more complex consultancy projects for installation and training; others are more intuitive, involving a web download for evaluation and none or minimal consultation to go live.
We can help
ArchiveOne from C2C offers a comprehensive solution to manage all aspects of email archiving. Our award-winning email archiving solution, ArchiveOne, helps organizations like yours comply with industry regulations and minimize mailbox size. ArchiveOne technology is built on a proprietary advanced analytical search and policy enforcement engine, made up of more than 70 analysis criteria used throughout the product line to centralize, automate and accelerate tasks that reduce risk associated with email and improve system usage.
C2C’s proven email archiving solution ensures:
- Low total cost of ownership – easy to implement and manage, interfaces with leading storage management applications
- Email information is indexed, archived and stored effectively, including selective message retention and retrieval requirements
- Reduced legal risks by retaining and recovering copies of emails to meet SEC, Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and other email compliance requirements
- Intuitive user search and retrieval of archived messages
- Improved Exchange Server performance by archiving PSTs, public folders and mailboxes
- Flexible and adaptable architecture, scalable from tens to thousands of users
- Improved email system security and forensic discovery, designed to assist with the latest Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) in the US.
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