A messaging/collaboration architecture incorporating email with additional functions such as, scheduling, calendaring, instant messaging, and document management, and a client component for mailbox access. Individuals login and access their email account using a client (i.e. Outlook). Enterprise systems are more common to larger businesses. Three examples of enterprise messaging systems are GroupWise, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Exchange. There are also small business versions of these commercial messaging systems as well as a large number of open source (free) alternatives. 

Storage Location

Email is delivered and remains stored on the mail server unless exported, archived or deleted.

Post Office Protocol 3 provides a simple, standard way for individuals to access remote mail servers and download messages to a mailbox on their computer. POP3 mail servers are hosted by Internet Service Providers (Cox Cable,  Road-Runner, AT&T, etc.)

Storage Location

Email is delivered to the ISP mail server. When the individual logs in and accesses their email account using an email client, new emails are downloaded to the individual’s computer, then removed from the mail server.* 
* email can remain on the server, however, it is usually limited by time (<30 days) or space (<100MB) and requires the individual to configure the option.

 
Web-based email or Webmail, offers the ability to send and receive email from anywhere using just a web browser. Webmail differs from POP3, Webmail messages are stored on the server, while in POP3, the messages are transferred to a personal computer when they are read.

A mobile and appealing alternative to using a traditional PC-based client such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird or Eudora. Webmail is freely available to anyone from the individual up to major corporations. For example, Gmail, offered by Google, permits up to 1GB of on-line storage capacity for each account.

Storage Location

Email is delivered and remains stored on the mail server unless exported, archived or deleted.

Akin to the Enterprise Messaging model, with the exception of hardware/software ownership and upkeep. Email hosting providers manage messaging/mail servers, hosting mail services for Small and Mid Size (SMB) businesses lacking resources or the desire in maintaining their own mail server (Outsourcing).

Email hosting services differ from POP3 and Webmail systems, offering premium ($) email solutions, including use of own domain name; hosted on dedicated mail servers as opposed to the basic (free) advertising supported email/Webmail.

Storage Location

Email is delivered and remains stored on the mail server unless exported, archived or deleted.

Archiving

The term archive is ambigious at best when discussed between legal and IT professionals. There are a number of variations and definitions of email archiving and/or exporting.

Do you archive email?

While a simple question, the moving-target answer depends upon a company’s policies, procedures and technology. Formally, email archiving employs a systematic method of retaining and protecting information contained in email messages and their attachments, for retention and possible retrieval at some future date.

Companies often defer to an employee’s judgment and actions in maintaining their own -- in reality -- the company’s email archives (email client archiving discussed later). Compliance legislation (SOX, HIPPA, etc.) and legal discovery rules mandate companies pro-actively manage email retention, which is producing assorted archiving solutions with various features:

• Indexing and search capabilities 
• Access logs providing a "virtual paper trail" 
• Rule-based classification identifying messages to be archived 
• Migrate messages to economical and efficient storage media 
• Legal hold capabilities 
• Identify and collect responsive email
• Automatic message destruction based on retention requirements and policies

There are a significant number of email archiving products and services available on today's market. Two common email archiving approaches are live-capture and email/attachment replacement.

Live Capture

Live Capture solutions are inserted between the mail server and the Internet. The system captures incoming and outgoing email, creating a copy on the archive server, then releasing the message to its intended destination and recipient. Capture methodologies either capture every email, or acting as a traffic cop, copy only those emails identified by an organization’s rules and policies, i.e. specific individual’s, company’s, words or phrases.

Email/Attachment Replacement

Initially intended to combat mail server storage limitations, replacement solutions integrate with existing email systems; extracting email and attachments (based on retention policies) and are replaced with a "pointer." Emails and attachments are moved and stored on a separate archive server; freeing-up space on mail servers and reducing backup times. The individual does not notice any difference, when accessing their email account the "pointer appears just as any other email, and when opened retrieves the item from the archive server. A number of archive products are incorporating policy-based email archiving features, extending the mail server’s capabilities, providing retention and destruction management of the emails and attachments.

The email client is an individual’s email interface, allowing access to view, send, receive and manage the mailbox contents. The most common email client in use is Microsoft Outlook; others include, GroupWise, Notes, and Eudora, just to name a few.
The risk with email clients, their capabilities to manipulate the contents of an individuals mailbox contents, using archiving capabilities and/or exporting email and their attachments to a number of various formats.

Archiving

Email is archived (removed from the main email storage location) and stored it in a separate external “archive” file. Archive files can normally only be accessed by using their respective client program.

Exporting

Email copies can be exported to single or multiple files.

The source email is still in the email system unless deleted in a separate action by the individual or through system automation.

Export formats include:

• Paper
• PDF
• MSG
• ELM
• RTF
• TXT
• DOC
• TIFF
• JPG
• GIF
• BMP