One of the main themes of Exchange 2007 is unified communications bringing email, voice, and other collaborative capabilities together in a single system. With nearly 150 million global Exchange users, Microsoft's vision of the future of email and communications is credible and will probably change the notion of what an email platform is. As more organizations adopt Exchange 2007, IT needs to re-think data protection strategies in the face of that vision.
Rather than apply today's recovery parameters to Exchange 2007, IT needs to step back and consider the big picture. As data protection evolves into next generation solutions it's important not just to gravitate to point technologies (e.g. virtual tape, de-dupe, etc.) because they are hot or fit neatly into existing processes. For the past five years, process has dictated choice of the backup solution that is the simplest, most cost effective and least disruptive.
At a minimum, users should start with RPO and RTO requirements that meet their evolving communications needs, and ideally organizations should more aggressively adopt information classification policies. Tiering data by RTO/RPO requirements allows the right data protection technology solution to be applied. IT is now responsible for 100% of corporate data, including the unified communications capabilities that Exchange 2007 brings. This includes emails, remote users, mobile devices, and voice. More than ever, one size doesn't fit all.
Action Item: Practically speaking, the concurrency enhancements in Exchange 2007 combined with next generation backup infrastructure represent an opportunity for IT to design backup and recovery for what communications will look like in the coming years. IT needs to articulate that vision and shape it and the consequent data protection solutions around it. This will allow next-generation backup and recovery infrastructure to align more closely with the evolving needs of organizations in the coming decade.
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