By one estimate, found in a study by the University of California, the world created 5 exabytes of information in 2002. If that number seems hard to fathom, it might be easier to think of it this way: 5 exabytes is roughly equal to every word ever spoken by humans. That number hasn't gone down since then, and doesn't figure to in the near future.

The average enterprise faces the same problem. The volume of unstructured data it creates continues to grow exponentially, especially when it comes to messaging.

Gartner predicts the volume of business e-mail will grow 25 to 30 percent annually through 2009; that means that the cost of e-mail infrastructure, including servers and storage as well as operational costs like backup and recovery, are also increasing.

E-mail is used not only as a communication channel, but also as a data repository. It is often where business transaction records are stored and documents are managed, both of which could include confidential information.

In addition to e-mail, organizations are simultaneously trying to combat the proliferation of storage in other systems such as files servers, instant messaging, and collaborative environments such as Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server.

The volume of data, however, is only part of the problem for IT managers. More demands are placed on corporate messaging data and those tasked with managing it than ever before:

• Under constant pressure to keep expenses in check, IT managers must work to reduce storage costs while the volume of data increases.
• Because of demands on their time, data center managers want to simplify the management of their hardware and software.
• An increasingly litigious atmosphere means the intellectual property and communications contained in e-mails need to be available for discovery.
• Corporate compliance regulations require the retention of electronic records, including electronic correspondence, for varying amounts of time.

Unfortunately, the methods being used to archive and store the messaging data in the enterprise are not evolving at the same pace as the volume of data, its demands, or the ways in which it's created.

According to Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), most users of the Microsoft Exchange e-mail platform rely on tape-based systems to archive their e-mail assets. Tapes have their shortcomings, and we seem to hear more about them every day. They suffer from old age. An increasing number of backup tapes are being reported lost in transport. According to an ESG survey, only 7 percent of respondents always encrypt the data on tapes, and 60 percent never encrypt. Data retrieval from tapes is both more costly and complicated than disk-based systems. ESG estimates that it costs an IT department between $1,500 and $3,000 to process and restore a backup tape.

It's no wonder ESG found organizations could save more than $800,000 with an integrated messaging archival system, once they add up the efficiencies created in their storage resources and by avoiding fines from compliance shortfalls.

Symantec Enterprise Vault
When security software vendor Symantec announced at the end of 2004 it was merging with Veritas, a leading name in storage software, Symantec Chairman & CEO John Thompson said the new company would "help customers balance the need to both secure their information and make it available." Symantec's Enterprise Vault might be the product he had in mind.

Enterprise Vault manages content by utilizing automated, policy-controlled archiving to reduce document storage and management costs, and eliminate unnecessary litigation risks. This allows for active retention and the seamless retrieval of information. With as much as 75 percent of corporate intellectual property accessible either directly or indirectly through e-mail or other messaging applications, according to ESG, this data needs both security and availability.

Executives and legal professionals will appreciate Enterprise Vault's ability to reduce corporate risk and manage intellectual property. IT professionals will benefit from more efficient use of storage assets and improved performance. Knowledge workers will see increased productivity from Enterprise Vault's ability to search and retrieve archived documents.

In a Microsoft Exchange environment, Enterprise Vault can be used to archive mailboxes, journals, public folders, and PST file content. Policies defined by the administrator archive e-mails and attachments into Enterprise Vault and out of Exchange, yet end users retain the ability to view and restore original items.

Enterprise Vault has "out-of-the-box" archiving support for applications that generate and store information in standard files. It seamlessly moves files to alternative storage devices without impacting the end-user. For Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server, Enterprise Vault will store older, less frequently accessed data, while leaving newer and popular data within SharePoint.

Instant messaging and custom applications can be archived using custom APIs or partner-integrated solutions. Enterprise Vault supports journaling and indexing in Lotus Notes/Domino environments running on Windows servers. It also supports policy-based archiving of e-mails and attachments in SMTP-based e-mail systems.

Over the next several weeks, we'll be exploring some of the ways that Symantec's Enterprise Vault can help IT professionals achieve a number of goals, including storage optimization, messaging management, and electronic discovery and compliance.

Bookmark this portal or sign up for the newsletter to stay informed.