IBM Launches Archiving Solution for Exchange

Published: October 25, 2006

by Alex Woodie

IBM and Microsoft are teaming up to deliver a new e-mail archiving bundle for Exchange Server. The new offering, which IBM is calling "the e-mail archiving and storage solution," combines AMD-based BladeCenter hardware, a midrange SATA disk array, the Windows Server 2003 R2 operating system, and IBM application software and services, and will be available next year.

E-mail usage continues to grow at an astounding clip. According to IDC, the volume of corporate e-mail has quadrupled over the last five years. Much of this growth has been on the back of Exchange Server, which enjoys a comfortable lead over the number two corporate e-mail platform, IBM's Lotus Notes/Domino platform.

But the organic growth of e-mail volume is only half the problem. New laws requiring companies to save their electronic correspondence have been put in place in the wake of the accounting scandals, giving executives another reason to get their electronic houses in order--or they could lose their hides.

IBM is pushing its e-mail archiving and storage solution as the solution to this problem. The new offering combines IBM's CommonStore eMail Archiving Preload and System Storage Archive Manager products onto standards-based hardware, including an AMD Opteron-powered System x BladeCenter server and a DS4200 Express array equipped with 4 TB or 8 TB of low-cost SATA disks. IBM previously offered a similar solution for its own Notes/Domino platform.

Exchange shops can expect to reap several rewards from the solution, including: retaining e-mail for corporate governance and legal discovery purposes; better sizing of future e-mail systems; improved performance and optimized storage; reduced backup and restore times; and faster server consolidation and upgrades.

The new solution is aimed at customers of all sizes, including small, medium, and large businesses, and is better than EMC's e-mail archiving offering, according to IBM.

"The solution we're announcing is designed to address the mushrooming e-mail and storage management needs of businesses today," says Kristie Bell, vice president of IBM's System Storage business, "and unlike the EMC Centera, this solution provides customers with a Windows-based e-mail archiving solution in their Windows environment, better leveraging their existing skills. In an area of increasing complexity, a simple solution is paramount."

The new solution will be available from IBM and IBM's business partners in the first quarter of 2007. It will carry a list price of $55,000; adding the eMail Search option will cost $2,000 more.

For more information, see www-306.ibm.com/software/data/commonstore/email.html.