• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 18, 2004

Spam Lessons Today for Better Email Management Tomorrow

According to IDC, the need for better management of email-based collaboration and content remains a top challenge for email users. With 12 billion spam messages to be sent daily next year in North America alone, in addition to 13 billion person-to-person emails and 6 billion email alerts and notifications, email solution providers and their customers, says IDC, must act to ensure that email remains an effective tool for business and consumer users.

With annual business email volumes worldwide in excess of 1 exabytes for the first time last year ( 1 exabyte = 1 thousand petabytes = 1 million terabytes = 1 billion gigabytes), and the need to comply with email retention dictated by government and industry regulations and business requirements, the cost of storing and managing email throughout its life-cycle is increasing.

Robert Mahowald, research manager for IDC's collaborative computing service added, "Email is frequently the point of entry for spam, viruses, and other IT headaches, and users often struggle to keep up with mail overload, regulatory compliance, and inbox management. Add to that the fact that more email-capable mobile devices mean increased mail volume and mailbox synchronization and management. These new threats - and opportunities - for the future of the inbox mean that email proponents will need to find ways to improve its security and flexibility without sacrificing its usefulness."

Mark Levitt, research vice president for IDC's collaborative computing service, concludes that "Email users and IT staff are finding ways to deal with spam more effectively."

You can find out more here.