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Can't Tell an Email Archive from a Backup Solution?

Just when you think we've come so far, a report comes along and makes you question the whole thing. Case in point, a recent CMS Watch report found that enterprises tend to confuse e-mail archiving with traditional back-up and recovery.

What? Really? We couldn't make this up if we tried.

According to research released by CMS Watch at Storage Expo, because managers often fail to understand the difference between back-up and advanced archiving facilities, e-mail archiving technology managers and buyers globally are apt to continue to struggle with high e-mail volumes.

For the record: a back-up is designed to manage short-term risk and provide a facility for disaster recovery. An archive, on the other hand, is designed to help manage long-term risk, ensuring that historical data can be accessed and remains authentic either for the business user or even an auditor or lawyer.

An easy distinction in theory, but one that can be costly if confused, especially when you consider that 80 percent of mail data consists of simple duplication -- something that e-mail archiving tools could eliminate. Email archiving tools can also take the place of existing and highly costly back-up and recovery operations.

In addition, since email trails are more easily tracked using archiving tools (rather than just back-ups), time and money can be saved and redirected towards implementing e-discovery capabilities.

So don't let your data recovery carry the brunt of archiving your email. Though many solutions may compliment each other, make sure that you aren't overlapping efforts too much or you are wasting time, energy and money -- we hear that's in short supply these days.

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