MessageLabs has launched its first email archival product that company officials claim will allow for fast access to messages that must be stored for regulatory and legal reasons.
MessageLabs Archiving Service encrypted the email it stored, retrieved and sent over a network, senior product manager, David Hahn, said.
Email could be searched using a Web-based interface or Microsoft's Outlook program, he said.
Messages can be searched in several ways, including by content, attachments and date ranges.
The archiving service was compatible with Microsoft's Active Directory service, which allowed for managing identities and customising different levels of access for users across a network, Hahn said.
The need for the service came as companies wanted more central control over their email, Hahn said.
"We clearly see this as part of a much broader business messaging strategy given the amount of intellectual property stored in archival email systems," he said.
Increasingly, governments are setting tighter rules regarding the access and storage of electronic data, including email. Hahn said companies could implement their own policies for email storage using the Archiving Service.
For example, an organidation might choose to store all corporate correspondence for three years while only keeping product management email messages for one year, Hahn said.
The move to offer an archived email service was a natural progression for MessageLabs, which specialises in antivirus and antispam services, vice-president for product management, Brian Czarny, said.
In November 2005, MessageLabs bought Omnipod, a company specialising in hosted secure IM e) services, bolstering its suite of managed email and Web services.
A handful of organidations in the United States and the UK had been using a beta version of the product, Czarny said. The service will cost between from $US11 to $22 per user per month, Hahn said.
An email storage quota was set depending on the pricing plan, Hahn said.
