Whitepaper

ARCHIVING – THE FIRST LOGICAL STEP FOR MICROSOFT EXCHANGE UPGRADES.

2Whitepaper: Archiving – The First Logical Step For Microsoft Exchange Upgrades

Microsoft Exchange is one of the most popular applications used for business email communication. As new versions of the platform are released, organizations are likely to upgrade. When Microsoft Exchange 2010 was released, for example, a survey found that 44 percent of organizations with 1,000 employees or more planned to upgrade within 18 months.1

Yet, the upgrade process is time consuming for IT and inconvenient for end users. This whitepaper discusses how creating an email archiving process before embarking on a Microsoft Exchange upgrade can eliminate these problems, saving time and money for organizations.

Upgrading Microsoft Exchange Is OnerousUnfortunately, upgrading Microsoft Exchange isn’t a simple process. The more email an organization has, the longer the migration from one version to another will take. With applications like Microsoft Word, existing files and data “just work” with new versions. With Microsoft Exchange, however, all data must be migrated from the older version to the newer one.

When organizations upgrade from one version of Microsoft Exchange to another, significant time and IT resources are required. Forrester Research conducted an analysis focused on the economic impact of Microsoft Exchange 2010.2 Based on the aggregate findings from customer interviews, Forrester created a composite company comprised of 1,500 information workers. The analysis estimated that for an organization of this size, upgrading to Microsoft Exchange 2010 would require two systems engineers and one network engineer dedicated at 50 percent for three weeks.

In addition to the amount of IT time required for an upgrade, work is usually done incrementally over weekends and at night in order to minimize downtime during upgrades. Employee email accounts are often split into groups and then migrated in a phased way to the new version of Microsoft Exchange. If problems are encountered during off-peak hours, it can be difficult for the IT staff to reach tech support teams who typically work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Introduction

Consider the benefits associated with archiving data prior to a Microsoft Exchange upgrade:

• The amount of data stored on Exchange Servers is significantly decreased. As a result, the amount of data required for the migration is greatly reduced. This means that fewer IT resources are needed for the upgrade.

• End users can access emails during the upgrade. An email archive enables all employees to access messages at all times, even while the migration is underway. Business operations are not affected in any way by the email system upgrade.

• Upgrades can be done during normal business hours. Since an archive reduces the amount of data to be migrated during the upgrade and end users have constant access to their emails, the IT team can schedule the upgrade work during the regular work week. Fewer crazy work schedules for IT translate into better work-life balance and employee satisfaction.

3Whitepaper: Archiving – The First Logical Step For Microsoft Exchange Upgrades

Archiving First Reduces the Cost and Risk of Microsoft Exchange Upgrades With any data migration project, organizations should have an archive. In the event that a Microsoft Exchange upgrade doesn’t go smoothly, it’s essential that existing files and data are safe and accessible. Archives and backups aren’t the same – this is a common misconception. A good analogy is to think of an archive as an ATM machine and a backup as bank safe-deposit box. The key difference is accessibility. Accessing files from an archive (ATM) is easy and secure. In contrast, accessing files from a backup (safe-deposit box) requires much more effort if upgrade problems arise. Backups are also a snapshot of data in time. As a result, the information in a backup may not be comprehensive. In contrast, archives continually capture employee files and data, which means that information will be available if needed.

About Rand Secure Archive

Rand Secure Archive provides a complete set of high-performance data archiving and management solutions to organizations, including: email archiving, electronic data archiving and storage management, internal compliance with corporate and regulatory governances, legal eDiscovery capabilities, data backup, and disaster recovery.

Rand Secure Archive leverages industry leading technology from HP Autonomy and incorporates proprietary search technologies from Autonomy to enable users to enjoy enterprise-class data archiving tools at an affordable price. Rand Secure Archive allows organizations to select from a highly secure hosted solution, an on-premise solution, or a hybrid solution to simplify IT strategy, lower costs and free up resources without having to make sacrifices in terms of functionality, security or control.

randSA@rand.comRandSA.com 877-443-8042 A Rand Worldwide Company

Rand Secure Archive Transforms Microsoft Exchange Upgrades From Painful to Painless Not all archiving solutions are created equal. Rand Secure Archive greatly reduces the burden associated with Microsoft Exchange upgrades. Migrations no longer mean inevitable disruptions for end users or the IT department.

Consider the benefits associated with archiving data prior to a Microsoft Exchange upgrade:

1. Rand Secure Archive is email platform agnostic. Rand Secure Archive works, out of the box, with many different messaging systems – not just Microsoft Exchange. Supported platforms include Microsoft Exchange (both local and hosted with Microsoft Office 365), Lotus Notes, Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise, and more. Upgrades between different versions of Microsoft Exchange are no longer a challenge, nor are upgrades from a non-Microsoft email system to Microsoft Exchange.

2. End users enjoy a “bottomless mailbox.” Considerable corporate intellectual property resides in emails. Rand Secure Archive enables employees to access email messages through Microsoft Exchange, regardless of how old the messages are. This “bottomless mailbox” gives end users greater flexibility if they need messages that are no longer stored on the Exchange Server.

3. Single-instance storage reduces hardware costs. Rand Secure Archive uses data deduplication technology. One copy of each email is saved to the archive, resulting in storage compression of up to 60 percent to 80 percent. This translates into significant savings in two ways. Exchange Server storage tends to be very expensive, so archiving results in more efficient use of those resources. In addition, storage compression on the archive server also generates hardware savings.

4. Organizations can elect to archive email on premise or at Rand Secure Archive’s hosted facility. No matter what an organization’s archiving requirements are, Rand Secure Archive can meet those needs. When organizations select the hosted solution, they enjoy unparalleled security. Each customer’s archive is stored in a single tenant environment, regardless of their size. Every organization has their own dedicated operating system and instance of Rand Secure Archive, which means there is zero risk that sensitive email content can be accessed by people outside of the organization.

1 Exchange 2010 proves popular. OnWindows.com. May 10, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.onwindows.com/Articles/Exchange-2010-proves-popular/4866/Default.aspx

2 The Total Economic ImpactTM of Microsoft Exchange 2010. November 2009. Forrester Research.