Mimecast has launched the Mimecast Cloud Archive, a multipurpose archive solution built for the cloud.

Mimecast Cloud Archive delivers an all-in-one cloud service that integrates: a secure data repository, built-in data recovery, storage management, e-discovery and compliance capabilities. It also enables customers to access their email archive anywhere, anytime, and on any device in record speed.

The company believes that legacy on-premise and first-generation cloud email archiving platforms have become obsolete, as the way organisations use email has completely changed since archiving’s inception nearly two decades ago.

According to new global data from Mimecast and Vanson Bourne, 88% of organisations responded that they have experienced problems with their existing archiving solution. Nearly 60% cite administrative complexity as a top challenge, while 48% experience a lack of scalability. Another 56% are plagued by slow search performance.

Mimecast Cloud Archive is designed and optimised for the cloud, offering the scale, performance and advanced features needed to manage email today.

“Most email archiving technology was built when email usage was much different. With email being the top communications channel for business, it’s growing at a rate where these on-premises solutions can’t keep up,” says Peter Bauer, CEO of Mimecast.  “Archive needs to be thought of as a digital memory – with multiple dimensions that secure corporate data, empower employees with anywhere, anytime access to email, and ensure regulatory and compliance obligations are met.

“With Cloud Archive, we’re able to give customers the confidence and control they need, with the industry’s fastest search speeds, to get more value from their email data today.”

Mimecast Cloud Archive enables:

* E-Discovery and compliance are made easy by leveraging the fastest search performance in the industry. Robust, intuitive tools simplify administrative and e-discovery searches for IT administrators, compliance teams, and legal professionals.

* Data recovery with Sync & Recover offers independent, immutable, always-available archives to hedge against data loss or corruption, giving organizations a means to restore their Outlook content – including email, personal folders, calendar entries and contacts – should misfortune strike.

* Business insights found in Case Review App allow for fast, effective search of email and attachment data to serve myriad missions, including compliance reviews, litigation case assessments, and internal policy audits. Additionally, Mimecast’s latest integration with Salesforce.com allows for Cloud Archive access and fast search capabilities within the CRM tool.

* Long-term data preservation with the archiving of email and attachment data into perpetuity, with no additional fees or charges for storage or retention duration.

“Archiving is intended to perform two vital functions: preserve data and simplify data management functions like search and e-discovery,” says Andrew Smith, senior research analyst at IDC. “However, many archiving platforms use on-premises architecture that isn’t able to cost-effectively handle the growing volume of email communications that is the ‘norm’ for businesses today.

“Buyers – and the market as a whole – are quickly moving to cloud-based archiving solutions that allow for better scale, performance and value.”

Mimecast’s research also found that most organisations noted mobility, faster search and end-user accessibility as top priorities, with 94% reporting that if their email archive solution included mobile apps for employees to access personal archives, they would roll them out. A full one-fifth said they would roll them out “without a doubt”.

Mimecast Cloud Archive includes new capabilities that empower employees with fully integrated email management from anywhere, and enhances security by ensuring full IT control over deployment, content access and revocation using their chosen Enterprise Mobility Management solution. Employees can self-serve for rapid archive search, security controls and always-on email whether using a corporate device or their own, increasing productivity.

Mimecast has partnered with BlackBerry to ensure Mimecast Mobile can be deployed securely and with the management, access and content controls required. Support for other leading mobility management platforms will follow.

“We live in an always-connected world, and employees have grown to expect access to their corporate email archives anytime, from anywhere,” says Mark Wilson, senior vice-president and chief evangelist at BlackBerry. “While this helps drive productivity and collaboration, organizations need to ensure that corporate data is secured in line with policy no matter the device used or if the employee is on or off the corporate network. We’re excited to help Mimecast give IT and security teams the ultimate control over employee access and authentication, while enabling employees to stay productive.”