EMC answered questions about what it would do with its Legato and Documentum acquisitions by rolling out new compliance software packages.
The Hopkinton, Mass.-based storage systems provider unveiled EMC Proven Solutions for e-mail and content archiving and retrieval. Also in its update: new data management functionality for its Centera platform, as well as new services for data classification, all geared to addressing compliance regulations.
Although devised to protect both enterprises and consumers from litigation and fines, compliance regulations have regardless been a thorn in the side of companies working to conduct daily business while staying in accordance with federal record-keeping laws such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.
This has prompted businesses to seek the help of leading technology
providers such as EMC, IBM and HP
for products and services that help them stay in compliance
with records that can be backed up and retrieved on the fly. But EMC had easily been the most aggressive on the archiving and content management front in the past year.
Recognizing this, EMC acquired archiving specialist Legato and enterprise content management provider Documentum last year in order to bolster its information lifecycle management (ILM) platform and product lines.
ILM proposes cradle-to-grave information management and leverages archiving and content management as key facets to head off compliance issues. After all, companies charged by legal powers to product information face thousands if not millions of dollars in fines if they are unable to produce e-mails or documents as required.
The new EMC Proven Content Archiving and Retrieval Solutions (CARS) automate compliance by centralizing online document and records management with software that stores and retrieves content in any format from any source.
EMC CARS with Documentum enables customers to manage the content lifecycle for compliance, while EMC CARS with Mobius enables customers to transform and archive bills, statements, check images and other content.
EMC Proven Solution for E-mail Archiving stores and retrieves e-mail in a
cost-effective manner, tightly integrating the LEGATO EmailXtender e-mail
archiving application with EMC’s tiered storage and services to archive
e-mail content from Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.
EMC has answered the bell with compliance software that could prove
promising, according to Enterprise Storage Group analyst Peter Gerr, who
noted that customers can manage e-mail and bank statements the same way they
manage transactional data.
In addition to allowing customers to automate and manage information,
customers can reduce the cost of such info protection by “consolidating
their existing stove-piped compliance and archiving operations.”
“These announcements show that EMC is making progress in integrating these
acquisitions,” Gerr told internetnews.com.
In platform-related news, the EMC Centera CAS (content addressed storage)
product offers new retention classes, audited delete and configurable
default retention period compliance functionality in the new operating
environment release, CentraStar v2.3. Lastly, new Data Classification
Services from EMC help customers create an ILM strategy.
In addition to the product announcements, the
company is expected to update its progress with integrating different product lines during an analysts meeting in New York City Thursday.
