Iron Mountain and Microsoft Collaborate to Solve Companies' E-Records Management Challenges
San Antonio, TX (ARMA 2006) - October 23, 2006 - Iron
Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) today announced plans to collaborate
with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and capitalize on Microsoft's
forthcoming 2007 Microsoft® Office system platform to help
organizations address the e-records management challenges they face in
connection with compliance and litigation.
In marrying Iron Mountain's expertise in records management policy,
process, and archiving with Microsoft's commonly-used office and
collaboration platform technologies, the two companies intend to build
a policy-based, lifecycle e-records management solution that will be
practical and cost effective. The Microsoft-Iron Mountain collaboration
is expected to benefit customers in three key ways:
- Native records classification and retention capabilities.
Drawing on enhancements in Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and
Exchange Server 2007, customers would be able to easily apply records
classification and retention policies to documents, as users go about
their normal computing activities.
- Cost-effective, long-term e-records archiving capabilities.
As information grows in volume or becomes less frequently accessed,
businesses would be able to automatically archive these records from
SharePoint Server 2007 and Exchange Server to Iron Mountain's hosted
digital archive, where the retention policies will be consistently
administered.
- Compliant eRecords management policies and process. Iron
Mountain Consulting services would help each customer create its own
policy, process and compliant records management program that can be
specifically implemented through Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007 and Exchange Server 2007.
“We were very excited to see Microsoft add native retention and
information management capabilities within applications like SharePoint
Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007. This is the first time these
capabilities are available to the mass business market without
requiring huge investments in large-scale document management or
traditional enterprise content management deployments,” said Ken Rubin,
senior vice president of corporate strategy, Iron Mountain. “Combining
Iron Mountain's records management expertise and archiving with
Microsoft's mass market reach and easy-to-use records management
technology, we will help enable businesses to accomplish a first -
cost-effective and practical e-records management implementation.”
While highly regulated industries like financial services and
healthcare already have a heightened sense for records retention and
management issues, other businesses must start to look at the records
management implications of regulations and litigation, while at the
same time manage unprecedented information growth.
“Together, Iron Mountain and Microsoft intend to offer an
unprecedented combination of technology and know-how to solve the
eRecords management challenge,” said Kurt DelBene, corporate vice
president, Office Business Platform Group at Microsoft. “With the rich
innovations of the 2007 Office system platform for enterprise content
management, collaboration, and search, combined with Iron Mountain's
unmatched records management expertise and long-term archival
solutions, businesses would have full lifecycle eRecords management
capabilities that are cost-effective and compliant.”
The soon-to-be-effective amendments to Rule 26 and other Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure, which affect how businesses handle
“electronically stored information,” will severely test companies'
abilities to respond to eDiscovery requirements during litigation.
While the amendments are intended to facilitate the exchange of
electronically stored information during discovery with a smoother,
less conflict-ridden, and less financially burdensome legal process,
failure to comply with the new eDiscovery rules can mean fines,
sanctions, liability, and other significant costs.
“The impending changes to Rule 26 will require the most extensive
changes to businesses' records management practices since
Sarbanes-Oxley,” added Rubin. “In fact, Rule 26 will have a much bigger
implication on records management because it changes the way businesses
must prepare their records prior to litigation in order to be ready for
pretrial discovery. Everything is discoverable, so all documents -
physical and digital - must be managed consistently. Together, Iron
Mountain and Microsoft will work to ease this burden on businesses.”
Iron Mountain's Records Management Consulting is a professional
service organization that helps businesses implement compliant and
legally credible records management programs. Its retention policies
and legal research are the most widely used in the industry.
Engagements are customized to each client's needs and include: records
retention program development and implementation for both paper and
digital records, inventory cost reduction, records management gap
analyses, benchmarking, and business process re-engineering.
About Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) helps organizations around the
world reduce the costs and risks associated with information protection
and storage. The Company offers comprehensive records management and
data protection solutions, along with the expertise and experience to
address complex information challenges such as rising storage costs,
litigation, regulatory compliance and disaster recovery. Founded in
1951, Iron Mountain is a trusted partner to more than 90,000 corporate
clients throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia
Pacific. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.ironmountain.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses
realize their full potential.
Contact:
Weber Shandwick on behalf of Iron Mountain:
Derek Delano / Sara Steindorf
ddelano@webershandwick.com / ssteindorf@webershandwick.com
(617) 520-7120 / (617) 520-7259
Waggener Edstrom Rapid Response on behalf of Microsoft Corporation:
rrt@waggeneredstrom.com
(503) 443-7070