E-mail archiving fast becoming a norm

With e-mail moving beyond convenience and into the role of a strategic
communication tool, e-mail communication is becoming an integral part of the
deci-sion-making process. More and more countries are going the US way in making
it man-datory for companies to save email-based communication.

"E-mail is increasingly com-ing under scrutiny in criminal
investigations and legal pro-ceedings. We have seen in the recent past in US how
big companies played with the vital information. Communication based on e-mail
has evolved quite a lot and governments in countries like–Japan, Korea,
Singapore and Vietnam–are making it mandatory for companies to store e-mail
records for a certain number of years," informed Legato Soft-ware
intercontinental operat-ions strategic development director PK Gupta.

There are some record retention requirements, such as tax and employment
records that apply to almost all the businesses, but there are business or
industry-specific record-keeping rules, too. For instance, in US, government
contractors, under some condi-tions, must keep all records relating to a project
for three years. So must broker-dealers regulated by the US Securities and
Exchange Act.

"And even if you don’t need to save an email, if it contains
business-critical information, you probably should. The amount of storage on
e-mail has risen sharply too. In the year 2002, it was just four pedabytes, it
went up to 230 pedabytes for 2003. Analysts claim that e-mail archiving drives
40 percent of storage requirements. Because of the wealth of information
contai-ned on company e-mail sys-tems, they have become a prime target of
discovery in litigation," Gupta explained.

Users also spend significant time managing email boxes. While trying to
quantify the cost of email management without an email management system, one
has to also factor in average salaries and time lost to users.

"Moreover, Virus-laden e-mails can also lie dormant in the system,
waiting to do more damage to the system if an unsuspecting user triggers another
outbreak. We have a solution–Email-Extender that can take care of the
archiving part for users," Gupta added.

Taking a cue from the US and other developed coun-tries, Indian financial
watch-dogs are all set to introduce guidelines for the financial industry on
e-mail archiving front. "Electronic communi-cation is already legal in
India. Now, both RBI and SEBI are working on e-mail records–front and soon,
they are likely to come out with the guide-lines," Gupta informed.

Zia Askari

(CyberMedia News)