E-mail archiving software addresses two needs: e-mail server performance and e-discovery for compliance or litigation. The market is large and growing, with dozens of vendors offering solutions in various formats. Before talking with vendors, enterprises must determine the business needs e-mail archiving should meet and what strategy will best fit those goals.

This research note walks IT leaders through three key steps:

• Identify business drivers.
• Build a strategy.
• Select vendors.

This note will guide IT leaders towards an e-mail archiving approach and help them clarify project goals with which to approach vendors. IT leaders will also find an overview of the main competitors in each facet of the e-mail archiving market: services, records/document management, on-premises server-based, and appliance-based solutions.