HP To Resell Legato E-Mail And Messaging Archiving

HP plans to integrate HP Services, its StorageWorks storage systems and Legato's EmailXtender as part of a complete solution targeted at efficiently routing, storing, managing and retrieving e-mail in order to help customers meet heightened regulatory requirements and corporate accountability demands, company officials said.

Legato's EmailXtender family supports Microsoft Exchange/Outlook, Lotus Notes/Domino, Bloomberg Mail and Unix Sendmail, as well as instant messaging.

Legato officials said its EmailXtender 4.4 is the only solution that can speed up the retrieval process of e-mails and instant messages by archiving both in a single repository.

Mark Sorenson, vice president of HP's Storage Software Division, said compliance and e-mail archiving issues are top priorities with CIOs, CFOs and CEOs.

The Legato offering automates e-mail archival and will be integrated tightly with HP's hard-disk arrays, tape libraries and write-once optical storage devices, Sorenson said.

"Legato, with the acquisition of OTG, has world-class e-mail archiving capabilities," Sorenson said. "HP is the dominant service provider in the Microsoft Exchange environment. Only HP can deliver all the pieces: the storage, the servers, the software."

The move was not unexpected. In a meeting with CRN in early May, David Wright, chairman and CEO of Legato, said he expects Legato to be known as a key player in the e-mail space this year. "One of the things we'll probably be known for a year from now is [being] the company you want to come to when it comes to e-mail compliance and management," Wright said. "I think you'll see over a period of time that more and more people will endorse our products. I think you'll see companies like HP, IBM and Iron Mountain endorse our products."

Sorenson said HP is in the process of preparing a CarePaq turnkey solution including hardware, software and services for its channel partners, and hopes to roll out such a program within the next two quarters.

"Channel partners are looking for new opportunities," he said. "This is a good technology for partners that can help HP with sales and delivery."