How To Archive Email
For many employees, using email is really only about two things: sending and receiving. But for enterprises as a whole, email is their lifeblood. It is essential to find a way to leverage and manage the data within emails so it can be easily searched and used. There are legal requirements, too, which must be met.
According to Dean Richardson, vice president of sales with ArcMail Technology, businesses should archive all email. “You never know which email you will need down the road,” he notes. Companies have saved thousands of dollars by finding just one email.
“Emails should be archived in real time, as this provides a backup of all emails should the user suffer a catastrophic mail server crash and find themselves unable to restore some or all of their email,” Richardson says.
The Ins & Outs Of Archiving Archiving all of a company’s email in a central archive with fast search/retrieve and export capabilities allows a company to respond to discovery requests solely from its archive, saving the cost and inconvenience of desktop discovery and discovery from mail server backups, which are very time-consuming. And it’s more than just email.
“The size of the company will have a strong bearing on what type of solution should be implemented. SMEs are typically companies with up to 1,000 seats, operating a Microsoft Windows environment possibly with MS Exchange server or running third-party software on the gateway. Thus, the IT administrator needs to identify a solution that can be installed on both exchange and gateway platforms and one that integrates with the company’s existing IT infrastructure such as Active Directory and SQL Server,”.
Examine questions such as: Will the company increase the number of mailboxes in the medium to long term? Must the company meet compliance requirements? Will it need to leverage SQL as an archiving store (or use NTFS on a separate server)? Can the solution carry out forensic auditing? Does it allow email retrieval on demand?
“SMEs are often cash-strapped with little or no IT budgets. Such limitations impact the email archiving strategy deployed. You need a solution that offers price-performance without affecting functionality. The solution must be user-friendly for both the IT administrator and the employee who needs to use it,” Kelleher says.
“A key trend is the need to archive other ‘unstructured’ data types. Examples are IM, voicemail, office files, etc.,” notes Bob Spurzem, director of product marketing at Mimosa Systems. That is because all electronic data that office workers manage on a daily basis are a target for litigation and are largely unmanaged by organizations.
Many SMEs realize the value of email archiving as a productivity tool and as a means to move older email from their overloaded mail servers to a repository that is designed to store huge amounts of email and allow very quick search and access to that email.
Richardson sees SMEs opting for email archiving, not for particular compliance reasons but because their users want unlimited email storage without mailbox restrictions, and they want to be able to search their email quickly and find what they are looking for. With ArcMail’s Defender, Richardson says, results are available in one to two seconds.
A good email archival solution should search, open, and recover an archived message within a couple of minutes, Spurzem says. “Admins can perform this task, or better yet, users should be able to do it themselves,” he says. Kelleher agrees that the maximum recovery time should be minutes.
Time To Storage Simply put, there are two schools of thought on archiving: keep everything and delete everything. “The tide is shifting towards ‘keep everything,’” Richardson says. “When you delete your copy of an email, there is always at least one other copy out there, and often it is not within your control. Do you want to be the only one in court without a copy of your own email?”
“Every email has a sender and at least one recipient. We have seen cases where companies had set destructive retention policies, and particular emails were used against them in court,” Richardson says. These emails were kept by employees despite the destructive retention policy. Had the company archived all their email and had access to all the related emails (not just the ones that the plaintiff chose to keep), the outcome would have likely been different, he says.
Retention should be managed according to policy. “The shipping dock employee is treated differently than the president,” Spurzem notes. “Email should be archived as soon as possible to ensure a copy is in the archive before it is deleted by an employee. Then the email archive manages each user mailbox according to its retention policy.”
Kelleher says a big advantage of archiving is that it reduces the size of end users’ mailboxes and, hence, the number of requests for more storage. “Since many employees may be reluctant to empty their mailbox and use the archives, an IT administrator may want to impose a 30- or 90-day storage limit,” he adds.
There is no specific time that emails should be kept on a server before being offloaded to long-term archiving. “There is a different answer for everyone,” Richardson says. “The drivers are regulatory, user preference, and best business practices.”
Every SME has users who keep stuff forever. Richardson says an employee’s email queue definitely should not be deleted. Spurzem says users should be allowed to keep email, according to their business needs, for as long as they need. “The archive is a repository of email that is managed for the organization’s needs, while the personal mailbox of each user is managed by the user, according to his or her needs,” he explains. “The archive should not dictate users’ behavior with regards to email.”
Most analysts recommend seven years as the lowest common denominator for keeping emails. “However, some companies choose to keep them longer if it is advantageous to do so,” Richardson says. “Best case, you find the email that wins your case or that you can use to remind the other party of the conversation/transaction. Worst case, there is a damaging email that may hurt you.”
In the worst case, deleting your copy of the email is rarely a solution because the opposing party will already have a copy of any damaging emails. “They rarely seem to have copies of emails that help your case,” he notes. If you have every email, you can quickly determine where you stand and often find other emails that can put a damaging email in context or even prove your case, Richardson adds.
The Legal Angle
Both the federal government and some states have laws regulating email. The two key federal laws are the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) Rule 17a-4.
At the state level, there are various important laws regarding freedom of information, privacy, and notification that impact email, Mimosa Systems’ (www.mimosasystems.com) Bob Spurzem says.
Both Spurzem and ArcMail Technology’s (www.arcmailtech.com) Dean Richardson say the most important new law on archiving data is the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure’s new amendments. Known as FRCP, it sets out federal guidelines. More information can be found on the Mimosa Web site at www.mimosasystems.com/html/ediscovery_frcp.htm.
Archiving will reduce potential legal risk, penalties, and fines, Spurzem says. An archive is a record of all email and attachments. Legally, FRCP requires the data is protected and stored in its original format, that it is accessible for legal discovery, and that it is retained according to company email policy.
Should litigation begin, all email records for the users involved should be retained, and all retention policies should be suspended so no disposition occurs while the case is active—that is, there is no destruction of evidence. |
The Privacy Angle Who owns the right to review and evaluate email left in a worker’s mailbox? What about personal messages from Saturday night’s hot date . . . or private, but derogatory or off-color, messages left by colleagues.
“This is a very hot debate,” says GFI Software’s (
www.gfi.com) David Kelleher. Some companies argue that any email sent using the company network becomes its property, and therefore management has a right to check employees’ mailboxes. On the other hand, privacy rights groups argue that checking an employee’s email breaches his rights.
Employees might have the notion that once they delete an email, it is gone forever, but that’s not the case. They often don’t think of the ramifications of using email to send off-color jokes or other content that may be problematic from a company liability point of view.
"Once an archive is introduced (as a productivity tool, not a Big Brother tool), employees realize that their email is permanent, and they adjust their behavior accordingly (Do I really want to send that email, knowing it will be archived?), which reduces company liability,” Dean Richardson of ArcMail Technology (
www.arcmailtech.com) says.
“At the end of the day, it is a question of trust,” Kelleher says. If there is a possibility that an employee is no longer loyal to the company or that he is abusing the system or sending out sensitive material to third parties, then management should have the right to check and verify if any wrongdoing has been committed, he says.
“Every state, every country has its own rules and regulations regarding email archiving and email use. . . . And they are not limited to federal regulations,” Kelleher says. Be aware of all of the regulations before setting policy or acting against a worker.
Western Financial Group Replaces Citrix with Webconnect
Western Financial Group Replaces Citrix with Ericom's Server Based Computing Solution
Leading Canadian Insurance, Financial and Banking Services Provider Reduces IT Infrastructure Costs - Deploys Ericom for Remote Access to Core Applications
Closter, NJ (November 14, 2007) - Western Financial Group, a leading Canadian Insurance, Financial and Banking Services provider, has decided to replace its current Citrix Presentation ServerTM environment with PowerTerm® WebConnect by Ericom Software, a leading provider of server-based computing and virtualization solutions. As the alternative to Citrix, PowerTerm WebConnect provides centrally managed access to Windows Terminal Servers, virtual desktops and legacy host systems.
With over 80 branch offices, Western Financial Group evaluated and selected Ericom's PowerTerm WebConnect based on its cost-effectiveness, ease-of-use and solid reputation. Beyond providing secure remote access to Western Financial's core Windows Terminal Server-based insurance application, Ericom's solution addresses the organization's wide range of technical and financial needs:
· Enterprise-wide Access: Anywhere, anytime access to business-critical applications enables information sharing among geographically distributed agencies and branch offices.
· Enhanced Security: Built-in encryption ensures privacy of corporate and customer information. Additionally, centrally monitored access to applications reduces fraud and security threats.
· Centralized Management: Centralized administration console reduces the cost and complexity of locally managing applications and desktops.
· IT Optimization: Built-in productivity tools such as Load Balancing, remote user support and Session Reconnect prevent user downtime.
"Citrix provides a hundred different bells and whistles with their product, but we don't need all those features," said Doug Bennett, Western Financial Group's IT Manager, Networking & Technology. "PowerTerm WebConnect definitely hits all the features we need, and more, at a fraction of the cost of Citrix."
"Ericom provides a Server Based Computing solution at a price point that promotes enterprise-wide deployments," said Ilan Paretsky, Ericom's VP of Marketing. "The intuitiveness of Ericom's PowerTerm WebConnect facilitates a simple and quick implementation, with minimal user re-training for a seamless transition."
For more information on PowerTerm WebConnect for Remote Access, please visit: http://www.loughtec.com/webconnect.html
ESET Smart Security from loughtec
ESET Announces ESET Smart Security and ESET NOD32 Antivirus V3.0
Tight integration and advanced heuristics provides better protection against blended threats
We're pleased to announce news on ESET Smart Security, a new, integrated security solution for consumers and SMEs, built on ESET’s award-winning advanced heuristic ThreatSense® detection system and the ESET NOD32 scanning engine.
Unlike security suites that combine standalone products, ESET Smart Security tightly integrates the antispyware, antispam and firewall features, with a new version of ESET’s flagship ESET NOD32 Antivirus scanning engine. This tight integration allows each module to share information with the other to evaluate and classify every threat appropriately.
ESET Smart Security takes less than a minute to install and does not require the PC to be rebooted after installation. The simple user interface enables even novice users to easily set-up the system and makes choices such as sharing information on a network or choosing to remain anonymous on an unsecured wireless network, easy. More advanced users that wish to have more detailed control over ESET Smart Security can do so using the “Advanced Mode” interface.
In its default settings, ESET Smart Security offers powerful detection capabilities with minimal user intervention. Handy features such as small updates and low performance overhead means that being secure does not equate to a slow machine, whilst ESET Smart Security’s advanced integration ensures comprehensive protection against blended threats. An example of the integration can be seen in the way ESET Smart Security handles html links in specific applications. Clicking on an html link in Microsoft Word for instance, will render the application as being classed as a ‘browser’. ESET Smart Security will then apply a far more rigorous heuristic checking to any traffic that occurs on network connections to that application.
ESET Smart Security and the latest version of ESET NOD32 Antivirus set the standard for modern heuristic scanning. Emulation technology allows for data to be opened in a virtual area within the program, so that it can be assessed and checked for suspicious activity before it is allowed to run on the machine. Combined with ESET’s ThreatSense technology, which provides a proactive early warning system from millions of installed systems around the world, ESET closes the window of vulnerability from when malware is discovered and a signature update released.
ESET Smart Security combines speed, accuracy and minimal computer system impact to deliver a significant improvement over traditional solutions in the marketplace today. ESET’s ThreatSense technology provides the industry’s highest level of accuracy. With significantly lower performance overhead compared to the competition. ESET Smart Security uses only 40MB of disk space, and scans systems up to 30-times faster than other products.
Our research indicates that consumers and businesses are looking for maximum protection, low system requirements, accurate results and fast scanning speeds—in that order. They are tired of solutions that slow down their computers and interfere with other applications, ESET set out to build a solution that addressed these concerns while offering the best level of protection available. With ESET Smart Security, we’ve surpassed our goal and savvy computer users will be amazed by its ease of use, intelligent lightweight design and near-zero impact on system performance.
Business Blogging
There are simply too many advantages to enabling a web site with fresh, themed content that is well structured for SEO benefits and that also offers a great platform for creative promotion, not to consider it in the online marketing mix. However, the mis-perceptions about what a blog is and is not abound, even with self-described "blogging experts".
Despite that, I think it's a perfectly reasonable question for a company to ask: "Why should we have a blog and what will it do for us?" Answering that question in the most effective way possible starts with understanding the business and marketing goals of the company. Too many SEOs and blogging consultants focus on the mechanical capabilities of a blog and not on the business goals that can be met.
Blogs are simply tools and are only as effective as the programs and people put in place to use them. The degree to which company goals can be met with the applications and current/future benefits of a blog are what we use to determine whether a business blog is appropriate or not.
Effective marketing initiatives have goals and measures of success. Blogs as marketing and PR tools are no different. Some of the measurable effects from business blogging include:
Media attention
Speaking requests
Customer loyalty
Inbound links to the blog
Search engine ranking for the corporate site
Corporate website traffic
Leads/sales initiated
Volume of blog traffic
Technorati and other credible rankings
Search engine ranking for the blog
Increased company visibility within the industry
Increased media coverage
Improved customer loyalty
Increased sales leads/revenue/new customers
If the majority of these measures (although each is not equally valuable) can support a company's online marketing and/or PR objectives, then it makes sense to continue down the blogging path. Other considerations include:
Hosting platform and limitations
URL considerations - sub directory, sub domain, different domain
Client side IT support/requirements/limitations
Client side blog editorial and strategic ownership
Client side content sources
Meshing the blog content schedule with the company/web site marketing plan and communications/messaging objectives
Client side resource allocation for research, writing, media creation and editorial
Coordinated promotion of key blog posts
Coordination of blog posts with offline, search marketing or media relations outreach initiatives
Blog software, template customization and optimization
Blog productivity plug-ins and anti SPAM tools
Third party widgets and tools
Training on blogging best practices
Keyword glossaries
Blogger relations and community outreach
Developing a social network, profile development and channels of distribution/promotion
Ongoing blog promotion - RSS, SEO, blog PR, social media
Blog analytics and monitoring
Blogging policy, legal considerations and copyright issues
Trackback and comment policy
Comment handling
Quantifying the expense for outside consultants and internal resources for blogging and making estimates for a return on investment
This is a long list and many blogging consultants will tell you how easy it is to throw up a blog and they're right. So why all the "considerations" you ask?
Things that are easy to get into are typically easy to get out of. The vast majority of blogs started are abandoned. TopRank's point of view is that it doesn't make sense to start a blog unless we do so in strategic support of a company's business goals. With the potential for significant impact on business, marketing and PR goals, it makes sense to do all that you can to ensure success - making sure all bases are covered. Blogging is new territory for most companies and being able to do so with a deeply experienced marketing partner can save a lot of headache, money, resources, time and embarrassment from failure.
Make no mistake, I am personally very biased towards the business building and marketing benefits of business blogs. Using a blog to promote our TopRank brand over the past 3, going on 4 years, has had considerable results that we're very happy with. When an agency that offers business blog consulting services can successfully implement for themselves the services and consulting offered to clients, it says a lot about the agency's capabilities.
As it goes with successful visibility on search engines for SEO related terms, the same goes for successful blog marketing programs with the adage, "If you can do it for yourself, you can do it for others". What I would add to that is that it must be for the right reasons, expectations and measures of success or don't bother.
Importance of having your own domain name
A question that I frequently hear is "Do I really need to have my own domain name?" The one word answer is "YES.". If you put up your site with some of the free web hosting services, the only company who benefits is the web hosting company. The last person who benefits is you. There are a number of reasons why having your own domain name is a must:
1) When you have your own domain name, the address of your web site will be of the form http://www.yoursite.com. On the other hand, if you put up your site on one of the free servers, the address of your web site will be something like http://www.somefreewebsite.com/yoursite/. Which of these two sounds more professional? Which of these two is smaller and is hence easier to remember? I leave you to make the judgement.
2) The only way to make money online is to build up credibility among your customers. Having your own domain name is the first step in doing that. Your customers will feel more comfortable buying whatever it is that you are selling if you have your own domain name. It makes your customers feel that they are dealing with a large, established company, rather than with some fly by night operator.
3) When you have your domain name, you can have multiple email aliases of the form alias@yoursite.com. This allows you to assign different email aliases to different functions, all of them pointing to your actual email address. Hence, for example, for questions related to the products and services that you sell, you can have an email address like sales@yoursite.com. For questions related to the newsletter that you publish, you can have an email address like editor@yoursite.com. For comments/suggestions about your web site, you can direct your customers to feedback@yoursite.com or webmaster@yoursite.com. Having different email addresses for different functions not only makes it easier for you to filter your email using your email client program (Eudora Pro, Pegasus Mail, Outlook Express etc.), but also gives your customers the impression that yours is a large, established company with whom it is safe to do business.
4) Many search engines give a lot of emphasis to the home page of a particular domain, i.e. other things remaining the same, a home page of a domain will often rank higher for a particular keyword than any other page. When you use some of the free hosting services, your index.html page is the home page of your site, but not of that domain. Hence in these search engines, your site will find it very difficult to make it to the top 20 or top 30, let alone the top 10 for some of the really competitive keywords. Just think of the amount of traffic that you will lose if this happens.
5) Some search engines are now refusing to spider the web sites which are hosted by the free web hosts. For instance, if you have a site hosted by the free web hosts, you would, until recently, have got the infamous error message saying that too many pages have been submitted from your site if you tried to submit your site to
AltaVista. While
AltaVista now says that "your URL has been submitted for processing" if you try to submit your site, rest assured that it will not spider any site belonging to many of the free web hosts even though it says that your site has been accepted. Can you afford that?
6) When your site is hosted by some of the free web hosts, you will find it very difficult to get it listed in a major directory like
Yahoo!. Although
Yahoo! will never admit that it won't add a commercial site which is being hosted in one of the free web hosts, in practice, it will be a miracle if you can get your site listed by
Yahoo!!. Listing your site with
Yahoo! is difficult enough even when you have your own domain. Don't make your task more difficult than what it needs to be.
If you do not currently have a domain name, are you convinced that you need one right now? The small fee that you pay per year for your own domain name is peanuts compared to the benefits that you get.
Article by Sumantra Roy. Sumantra is one of the most respected and recognized search engine positioning specialists on the Internet.
