Mimosa Systems adds case management tool to NearPoint 4.0 data archiving software |
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By Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer
30 Jun 2009 | SearchStorage.co.UK |
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Mimosa Systems Inc. today announced Version 4.0 of its Mimosa NearPoint data archiving software, with new support for case management workflows, federated search across geographic sites and various types of content, and new capture methods for ingesting data into the data archive.
With Version 4.0, users will have the option of deploying a case management tool with the archive that will allow for role-based delegated administration of e-discovery and compliance searches. "A case can involve between 10 and 40 queries," said Scott Whitney, Mimosa's vice president of product management. In the past, users have been able to tag and save those queries and their results, but "you need to organize not just the results but who's working on it," he said.
Industry analysts say this capability will be a key advantage for Mimosa Systems, which is still best-known for email archiving. Mimosa doesn't claim the tool will replace full-fledged legal review software, and doesn't offer as broad a set of features as a larger suite like Autonomy Corp.'s Zantaz product. "But unless you're a massive enterprise, a simple case management tool that covers the email domain with a basic workflow is more than adequate," said Jeff Boles, senior analyst and director, validation services at Hopkinton, Mass.-based Taneja Group.
The newest version of NearPoint also supports new capture methods beyond the Microsoft Exchange-based log shipping that has defined Mimosa since it first launched its product on the market. Log shipping, according to Brian Babineau, an analyst at Milford, Mass.-based Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), is seen as more advanced than the more typical journaling approach to ingesting data into an archive. While journaling systems require all messages to write to one mailbox that the archive draws from, log files are physically removed from the primary email environment, and so don't compromise the performance of the production email environment as much, Babineau said.
However, with this release, Mimosa Systems is adding support for journaling for cases where customers may prefer it, according to Whitney, such as when email is being archived from several distributed sites. Users and Mimosa partners will also have access to a new software development kit (SDK) for API-based approaches to ingesting content in the NearPoint archive, and Mimosa will also support ingestion using Microsoft Corp.'s Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). It will also support ingestion through SMTP, which means NearPoint will be able to support Web-based email services like corporate Google Inc. Gmail.
"One of the bigger differentiators for Mimosa has been its capture methods," ESG's Babineau said. "Using someone else's copying method could be a way to move legacy or bulk messages to the archive that you may not have had before."
Support for more non-Windows data (Mimosa Systems is best known for integration with Exchange, as well as Microsoft SharePoint and file systems), especially Lotus Notes, remains on Mimosa's to-do list, Babineau said.
Once users have ingested data into the archive, NearPoint 4.0 will now provide unified search results for administrators and end users across all the content types it archives; before, users had to search email, file and SharePoint archives separately. Users can also perform federated search over multiple NearPoint grids at different geographic locations.
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