New Symantec Enterprise Vault 8.0

As part of its Information Risk Management (IRM) strategy, Symantec Corp. announced Symantec Enterprise Vault 8.0, the newest version of Symantec’s industry leading email and content archiving platform. Enterprise Vault 8.0 helps organizations reduce the costs of storing unstructured information such as email, instant messages (IM) and files by more than 60 percent through a combination of advancements to its data de-duplication and electronic discovery features and through associated energy cost savings.

In a Symantec survey conducted last month, storage and discovery savings top the list of IT concerns over managing unstructured information. More than half of the 202 IT managers surveyed said reducing storage costs across email, IM and collaborative content such as SharePoint files was either ‘important’ or ‘extremely important’ to their organization today. Highlighting concerns over litigation readiness, fewer than 15 percent felt confident enough to bet their own paycheck on their company’s ability to quickly conduct discovery searches and find everything for a legal case if asked.

"We’re seeing a large percentage of Fortune 100 companies adopt Enterprise Vault recognizing that an intelligent archive is the best place to secure and manage unstructured information," said Francis deSouza, senior vice president, Information Risk Management, Symantec. "In the same way that databases have become the home for structured information, Enterprise Vault gives companies of all sizes a primary storage tier for unstructured information and confidence in their approach."

Enterprise Vault archives email, IM and collaborative content such as SharePoint files through storage optimization, classification and retention technologies, making it easy to find the stored content. It simplifies archiving for organizations of all sizes by reducing their storage information costs and automating high-cost workflows around e-discovery.

"With Enterprise Vault 8.0, we’re able to consolidate email and other electronic information into a single repository and reduce information redundancy," said Mark Olsen, director of controls and compliance, Mitel. "We have moved thousands of PST files off employees’ desktops and laptops into the archive, resulting in a 35 percent savings in storage costs. In addition, Enterprise Vault and the Discovery Accelerator have saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars, which we would have previously spent performing strategic searches for all legal matters."

New Features in Enterprise Vault 8.0 Include:

• Advanced Storage Reduction – With its optimized single instance storage, Enterprise Vault keeps just one copy of individual emails or files regardless of the number of times it occurs or from what content source it originates. Enterprise Vault offers the most comprehensive support of content platforms in the industry including Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Lotus Domino, File Servers, IM and more.
• Seamless End-User Experience – As Enterprise Vault continues to become a mainstream application for employees, Symantec will continue its open beta for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices providing on-the-go search at anytime and from anywhere. Full support for mobile devices will be made available during the first half of 2009. Enterprise Vault also provides seamless online and offline access to archived items from interfaces like Outlook, Notes or Windows Explorer so users perceive no separation between live and archived information.
• Intuitive E-Discovery with Guided Review – Leveraging the industry’s first Guided Review feature as part of Enterprise Vault Discovery Accelerator, users are able to analyze and filter search results to quickly drill down to the most relevant content with a few simple clicks of the mouse, helping to further reduce the costs and risks of e-discovery.
• Simplified Installation and Administration – Enterprise Vault now offers wizard-based configurations with default settings that are based on industry best practices letting administrators get Enterprise Vault up and running in minutes. Further simplifying administration is a new Common Tasks dashboard that provides quick access to common tasks and operations within Enterprise Vault.

"Enterprise Vault 8.0 gives organizations an open and flexible archiving platform for the efficient storage of unstructured information," said Brian Babineau, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Our research indicates that companies are going to archive more than 200 exabytes in the next four years and so they need a flexible, innovative platform like Enterprise Vault that can help them retain, manage and store this information efficiently. This upgrade is yet another example of Enterprise Vault’s innovative leadership in the archive market and illustrates why it should be viewed as a critical piece to any comprehensive information risk management strategy."

Availability
Symantec Enterprise Vault 8.0 is scheduled to be available in early 2009 directly from Symantec or through Symantec’s worldwide network of value-added authorized resellers, distributors and systems integrators.