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I’ve broken down and am also now on Twitter.  Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/mtuip if you are interested.

It seems that not much people have been willing to touch on this subject so far so maybe I’m going to be the first one here.  As you all probably know by now, Microsoft announced Exchange 2010 back in April 15th and one of the features in Exchange 2010 that got a lot of peoples attention is that it will have build in archiving, retention and eDiscovery. I am purposely not going to single out archive company names in this article.

Microsoft positions Exchange 2010 as a ‘personal archive’ and not as ‘business archive’ solution.  The distinction is there for many reasons.  First of all, Microsoft will with this solution only focus on allowing organizations to get rid of PST files, implement large mailboxes and provide advanced search.  It will not provide records management and preservation of electronic information beyond Exchange.  It is of my opinion then though that the larger enterprises who are going to look for a more complete solution that offers functionality beyond the basics which includes:

• Integration with software and applications to manage the eDiscovery process.  Search is not eDiscovery .. a proper eDiscovery application allows you to use advanced queries to create and narrow down search result sets, review and tag this data and more (i.e. case management)
• Allow for capturing content from more than just Exchange.  Many organizations are already capturing File System data, and are moving towards implementing SharePoint as well.  Capturing more content in a unified archive makes sense for not only storage reasons but also legal and compliance reasons.

Exchange falls short of the above, but it will probably gain traction in this space more or less with the smaller organizations that are going to look for a basic archiving solution.  These customers have been there all along and are happily served by some of the around 85 companies now in this space.  I personally think that Microsoft will start to take away business from the vendors that don’t offer anything beyond email, those that provide solutions that cover the basics.  After all .. why should a company spend money to buy the exact same ‘basic solution’ from a 3rd party when it is in the base product.

Now .. there are many things that Exchange 2010 doesn’t solve, so organizations that are looking at Exchange 2010 need to clearly understand what can be done with the application and what not.  If you are looking for case management in eDiscovery .. nope .. isn’t there .. if you are looking for a solution that can locate and ingest your PST files in your network beyond the file server .. nope .. can’t do that either.  Do your homework well and make a good decision, but make sure that if you are thinking about archiving beyond Exchange (File Systems and SharePoint) even if you might not do that now but next year  , you have to pick a vendor that can offer that and not pick one that will block you down the road

I will be hosting a Bird of a Feather roundtable next week during Teched in Los Angeles, CA .. and it might be nice to meet you if you are going.

BOF02 Regulatory Compliance, Archiving, and Electronic Discovery with Microsoft Exchange Server
Mon 5/11 | 2:45 PM-4:00 PM | Room 501A

Birds-of-a-Feather, Microsoft® Exchange Server

Regulatory compliance has become a core requirement for many companies. Producing e-mail evidence for courts or regulatory organizations can be challenging, given the massive volumes of data, the intricacies of the legal process, and the disparity that often exists between legal and IT departments. We discuss the compliance functionality in Microsoft Exchange Server, such as archiving and electronic discovery, complementary needs for companies wishing to be proactive in compliance. Come and share the solutions you’ve found to assist in dealing with Exchange compliance.

Speaker Bio:

Martin Tuip is a nine-time Microsoft® MVP for Exchange Server. He started his IT career in system administration, but has gone on to focus most of his career on archiving and compliance products. Martin is the webmaster of several resource sites and discussion groups for Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint and regularly speaks on email archiving and Exchange Server.