The update is to the optional Discovery Accelerator module for the company’s Enterprise Vault software.
First launched in 2003, DA works with data in the EV repository, and provides lawyers with more sophisticated searches of email, IM and file data than the base EV product, together with more advanced management of searches, and links to third-party discovery management tools.
On 1 December 2006 new US federal rules of civil procedure will come into force, codifying the requirements for the process of discovery of electronic evidence. Previously these requirements have evolved through case law, Symantec said.
Rules 26 and 34 now define electronically stored information, and require early conference between parties during e-discovery, during which IT systems and data locations must be detailed.
Effectively, this is putting IT at the negotiating table, said Art Gilliland, senior marketing director at Symantec. To help deal with this, DA 6.0 now features ad hoc search and preview functions to highlight negotiating points.
Rule 37 codifies legal holds on data, requiring companies to systematically enforce retention of data relevant to pending or reasonably anticipated litigation. To meet this requirement, DA 6.0 can put lock on data, over-riding deletion policies of the base EV system. According to Symantec, this ability is not matched by rival software from suppliers such as EMC Corp, CA Inc, or Zantaz Inc.
Rule 34 also allows requesting parties to specify the form of production, with the default being native file or data formats, alongside file meta-data. Currently, data is presented in single uniform formats such as PDF, eliminating the possibility of examining meta-data. DA 6.0 can now present data in email, IM and file formats. We haven’t seen any other products that can do this, Gilliland said.
Symantec said that it has also struck deals that will see it effectively resell the e-discovery consulting services of law firm Redgrave Daley Ragan and Wagner, and the services of RenewData Corp, which specializes in the recovery of data from legacy archives and sources.
