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Beyond Spam: Security and Stability to Be Among Top 10 E-Mail Concerns by 2007
As Communication Infrastructures Evolve, So Will E-Mail Priorities
As electronic communication vehicles like e-mail, instant messaging, and Web conferencing continue to grow, organizations will need to create a secure and low-cost infrastructure to tackle new challenges, according to META Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: METG).
"During the next four years, e-mail will unquestionably become more deeply entrenched, more valuable, and therefore more critical to the well-being of the organization," said Matt Cain, vice president with META Group's Technology Research Services. "By 2007, e-mail priorities will have changed dramatically from existing concerns such as spam blockage and policy enforcement, to a focus on stability and security."
The top 10 e-mail concerns (in order of importance) organizations will need to address by 2007 are:
1. Stability
Organizations will upgrade infrastructures to bring system reliability to 100% during business hours.
2. Security/hygiene
Spam will not go away, but will be controlled via various filtering techniques. Multiple e-mail hygiene services will be batched together by vendors to handle denial-of-service attacks, mail loops, virus/spam protection, harvest-attack abatement, content blocking, and policy management.
3. Centralization
The centralization movement, coupled with an emphasis on stability and hygiene, will lead organizations to apply data center operational disciplines to e-mail.
4. Encrypted e-mail
By 2007, a combination of simplified public/private key distribution and rigid policy enforcement will largely resolve this issue.
5. Records retention
Organizations will increasingly use a mixture of client/server and gateway-based policy enforcement tools centered on adherence to governmental and corporate records management and archival requirements.
6. Mailbox overload
The end-user mailbox overload issue will be alleviated somewhat by filters and tools, which will help prioritize and categorize incoming e-mail.
7. Mobility
IT groups will continue to be challenged to provide e-mail services to a growing crop of diverse mobile devices, including pagers, cell phones, and PDAs.
8. Upgrades
Microsoft will deliver an Exchange version based on SQL Server, representing a major change from the current Web Store database.
9. Rightsizing
Organizations will have a good grasp of e-mail economics by 2007, and will actively drive down costs via centralization and standardization.
10. Knowledge management
Knowledge management services for e-mail will help users identify in-house expertise, discover existing relevant research, and formulate process best practices. 05/2004, META Group
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