E-Mail Protection Needs Improvement, Expert Says

Today’s e-mail correspondence is not just the most popular form of business communication, it’s also legally binding and needs to be protected as much as paper contracts, says Jason Buffington, director of business continuity at NSI Software.

According to a recent opinion piece on Storage Networking World Online (www.snwonline.com), Buffington says the old ways of protecting e-mail aren’t enough for the current business environment. He examines some of the most popular protection options today, as well as the problems that currently exist in those options.

The options Buffington examines include:
Synchronous mirrored storage. This approach has many shortcomings, and assumes the user has already deployed a SAN.
Clustering. This is an option that addresses the local availability issue, but assumes shared physical storage.
Tape backup. The most common approach to protecting e-mail -- it is unlikely to be sufficient in today’s business climate.
Software replication. This is a more efficient form of e-mail backup, and one that businesses might consider using in addition to tape backup.

Buffington also offers up some examples of what really happens during a breakdown, as opposed to generalized theories. He says IT professionals should consider using application-dependent tools to supplement existing data protection systems, regardless of the current use of backup tape.

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