2 December 2003 - Stoke Poges, Bucks, UK - One in four companies believes that more than 20 percent of their email traffic is non-work related, according to a new survey commissioned by Hitachi Data Systems. The survey has also uncovered wide variations between each of the 14 EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) countries surveyed, with workers in some countries sending up to ten times more personal emails than their peers in other countries.
Aside from the impact on productivity, Hitachi Data Systems' survey highlights the cost and technology implications of storing non-work related email messages.
With new regulations encouraging companies to archive all email messages for at least three years, personal email traffic places an additional strain on data storage systems. Analysts at IDC already forecast that the total number of emails sent daily worldwide is growing from 9.7 billion in 2000 to 35 billion in 2005.
Yet despite this, Hitachi Data Systems' research suggests that most companies are failing to address the problem of archiving growing volumes of email data.
"Since most companies are reluctant to place draconian email restrictions on their staff, they need to look at ways of storing email content more efficiently," says Nick Howe, Global Solution Services Director (EMEA) at Hitachi Data Systems." With new email archival regulations on the way, companies that fail to do this are likely to find themselves with a very large storage bill."
Across the region, three-quarters of IT directors questioned
agreed that emails take up more than five percent of their companies' entire
data storage capacity. However, a quarter of respondents reported that more than
20 percent of their stored data was from email messages, while one in ten put
the figure even higher, at up to 40 percent.
Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers' ROI and minimise their risk. By focusing on the customer's perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers' business needs.
With 2,700 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business
through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private
sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include more than 50
percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web
site at www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 340,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2002 (ended March 31, 2003) consolidated sales totaled 8,191.7 billion yen ($68.3 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at
Contacts:
Shirley Virando,
Hitachi Data Systems, +44 (0) 1753 618682, shirley.virando@hds.com
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