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The need to archive emails in compliance with regulations have driven up demand for data storage solutions. While Sarbanes Oxley, SEC, HIPAA among other regulatory requirements compel organizations to implement a retention schedule, no attention has been paid to the actual data being stored.

As over 70% of emails is spam, everyone across the board find themselves in a quandary. This means for every gigabyte of email storage, 700 Megabytes is pure junk. This creates an instant data storage problem and also weighs down in infrastructure capacity. Most companies in an effort to be email archiving compliant just store everything that comes across their network based on the assumption that the data has been filtered.

Moreover, it is important to implement as much filtering of emails before it even hits your mail servers. This way, much of the junk is eliminated. This means the data that arrives on your mail server is post processed..i.e, cleaned up before arrival. Furthermore, with the ever sophisticated manner with which embedded malicious code is hidden in image files, links, attachments etc, all the end use needs to do is open up the email. You don't even have to click on a link for the script to be executed. However, if the email has been checked for any "abnormalities", then the propensity for problems is immensely reduced if not eliminated.

There is a new industry emerging in this area of technology, Managed Services. In a nutshell, your emails hit the service providers systems and is cleaned up before it hits your mail servers. This way, the provider takes the hit first. This process usually takes less than 2 seconds. An email insurance policy of sorts in tech jargon. Organizations need to thoroughly evaluate their data storage needs, classify their data and determine their tolerance level regarding email archiving before determining which solution fits their needs.

Alani Kuye is Managing Partner of Phantom Data Systems Inc. A Connecticut based Data Recovery, Data Storage and E Mail Security Solutions Provider. He has consulted and designed enterprise data storage, recovery, records management and security solutions for large corporations, government agencies and small businesses alike. He resides in Connecticut and can be reached at 1-203-809-2465 or alani@phantomdatasystems.com