Raiders of the Lost Archive – Hosted Email Archive Services

The convenience and immediacy of e-mail makes it THE technology for business communication. But there is a great risk inherent within the system, the storage of very large volumes of e-mail represents both an asset and a liability to any company. There can be many reasons organizations may need to access older e-mail messages. Depending on your industry, you may need to be compliant with specific regulations requiring the retention of and ability to produce a specific e-mail. Additionally, many organizations might face litigation, accompanied with demands for copies of e-mail messages and their attachments. When you consider keeping e-mail, and the archive systems involved, make sure to think about your specific business processes, compliance with industry regulations, and the potential for litigation.

E-mail Archiving vs. Data Backup

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s establish the difference between e-mail archiving and e-mail backup. While these two are related, they represent two entirely different ideas. Backup is put in place to counter any mass data loss. It can be used to restore a company to functionality. Backup is not used to review and retrieve individual pieces of data, such as single e-mails, that is the role of archiving. Organizations need archival storage in order to protect, retrieve and review messages. A solid archival plan will allow users to see every action associated with each archived message.

Policy Management

Corporate message retention has become a way of business life. With laws being passed governing the length of time business e-mail must be retained, the manner in which it must be preserved, and specific message review requirements, the need for a centralized multitasking mail repository is growing. In addition, the increasing likelihood e-mail will be required for legal discovery encourages organizations to take a proactive approach to e-mail and instant message (IM) retention policies to mitigate risk.

Policies for e-mail archiving must be established by each individual organization, but there are best practices that should be followed. Each e-mail must be considered with regard to its specific business value.  For example, an e-mail whose only purpose is to make plans for dinner this coming weekend has no value to the organization and therefore should not make it through the archival process.  The age of an e-mail is also of concern when establishing archiving policies.  While some organizations may find a month old e-mail to be useless, others will find e-mails to have value even after several years.  It is wise to take into account legislative requirements when setting policies.  For instance, an e-mail may have no value to your specific business, but it is still necessary to archive under current regulations.

You know the why’s of email archiving, but what about the how?

EveryNetwork’s Hosted Email Archive Service, an advanced message archiving system for e-mail and instant messages, is one of four distinct services in the Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services portfolio (formerly FrontBridge). The service is designed to help companies of all sizes and across all industries meet the variety of regulatory and legal demands now placed on their electronic communication systems. The EveryNetwork Hosted Email Archive Service is deployed over the Internet, helping minimize up-front capital investment, free up IT resources to focus on value-producing initiatives, and mitigate messaging risks before they reach your office network.

How it Works

The EveryNetwork Hosted Email Archive Service benefits from the in-stream spam and virus protection technologies provided by the Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services network. As e-mail messages pass through the network, a copy of each is made and stored in a security-enhanced online message repository. Similarly, mail sent from your organization is captured through the envelope journaling function in Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. Instant messaging (IM) and other electronic communications (Bloomberg Mail, etc.) can also be copied directly to the archive. As messages are received, the archive system assigns a unique serial number and timestamp. Comprehensive text indexing allows stored messages to be searched by header, subject line, message body, and more than 200 attachment file types.

After archiving, messages can then be accessed through a security-enhanced, Web-based interface. Flexible search queries can be used to locate messages quickly. Once yore retrieved, users can conduct a variety of actions, including tag, file, export, forward via Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and restore.

The EveryNetwork Hosted Email Archive Service also includes a backup mail system for e-mail continuity during a network outage. The Web-based system enables end users to read, compose, and reply to e-mail in real time.

Solution Overview

Exchange Hosted Archive includes a complete role hierarchy, enabling different users in the organization to leverage the central archive repository for their specific needs.

Benefits of EveryNetwork Hosted Email Archive Service:

For more information about the EveryNetwork Hosted Email Archive Service, ask a member of your EveryNetwork On-Site Engineering Team or call our sales team at 877-647-2262.