A medley of government regulation and best business practice is making email archiving storage’s hottest topic

The storage market offers a wide array of opportunities for the reseller community, but in recent times one area in particular has been rising to the top of the storage requirement agenda.

Email archiving enables firms to save and protect data contained in email messages so it can be accessed quickly at a later date. In itself email archiving is a best business practice which firms should adopt and resellers are constantly attempting to sell offerings which are inline with such practices. However, email archiving has another ace up its sleeve because more legislation and government regulation have been, and are being, introduced covering the retention of electronic data for certain period of time.

At the beginning of the year, the importance of email archiving was pulled into the public limelight after it was revealed that the White House has no comprehensive email archiving system. It was the Bush administration which scrapped President Clinton’s previous archiving system, which was installed due to specific court orders. The issue caused uproar with those who know the importance of such a system, but it also offered great exposure for the concept of email archiving. At the same time it highlighted the possibility of just how many firms must be failing to archive their data properly. If the White House is failing, think how many firms must be?

Email archiving received further mainstream coverage earlier this year when the first public email archive system was created by the Powerhouse Museum. The museum is asking the public to submit emails in an effort to capture a snapshot of contemporary life.