“EMC Corporation, the world leader in information management and storage, today introduced the EMC eDiscovery Solution, an integrated offering of EMC information and content management software, networked storage and professional services designed to help customers of all sizes better manage the legal discovery process.” [emphasis added]
So opens a February 27th EMC press release (spotted on Lit Support Blog). EDDix recently predicted a convergence of archival/retention systems with e-discovery solutions (details here). EMC reports that it is the first “storage company to deliver an integrated solution for proactive e-discovery.” It seems EMC is positioning itself to be a turnkey storage, archival, and e-discovery solution for corporate America, including professional services.
Corporations may now face an interesting choice: deploy a single, integrated system or assemble a best-of-breed solution. A huge consideration: the biggest e-discovery cost is typically lawyer review time. A best-of-breed approach with the right advanced search tool might yield a lower total cost. But even if that is true, many companies will likely find the integrated solution attractive. In any event, it probably would not be very hard for EMC to integrate other tools into its solution – and the company has made numerous acquisitions over the last few years.
Certainly this is news for law departments and corporations. But it is also news for law firms, which should closely track the evolution in how their clients manage information.