It’s official now, Google Vault which does eDiscovery for Gmail is now now available to existing business customers.    However, it is not yet available for Government customers.

See the announcement from Google here.

After enabling Vault on the Google dashboard, you can log into ediscovery.google.com and use it to place legal holds.

Another feature that Google Apps has is the ability to make custom internal websites with forms to distribute to users that can track and specifically require acknowledgement from custodians about the legal hold and need to preserve data.

Enterprises use product like Legal Hold Pro to do this, and this type of functionality can be produced inexpensively and quickly with Google Apps Sites and Forms.

Jeffrey Goodwin

Founder

eDiscoverySquad, LLC

www.ediscoverysquad.com

The post Official announcement by Google on Vault availability for legal holds appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.

In a recent discussion last week with Jenni Williams, Channel/Client Relationship Manager for Google, I learned that the processes of setting up a procedure to amend the terms and conditions for Google Apps customers to cover Google Vault is nearly final and the only loose end before the large scale roll out begins.

Ms. Williams said that there are no API’s for Google Vault yet, but this will be an area to watch as eDiscovery kicks into high gear for Google.   There are already a number of data management tools such as Google Active Directory Synch – GADS , Google Apps Migration for Microsoft® Exchange  - GAMME, which can move ESI related to user identities, email, calendar, and contacts.  GAMME can use IMAP to connect with a wide variety of email providers, such as Microsoft® Exchange Server (2000, 2003, 2007 or 2010) or IMAP server (any RFC 3501-compliant IMAP server, including Microsoft® Exchange, Novell Groupwise, Cyrus, Courier, Dovecot, SunMail, Zimbra, and Gmail), or work directly with .PST files.

Both GAMME and GADS also support a command line scripting ability and can be launched in the back ground.

Prior to Google Vault, Google customers had their email routed through Postini for eDiscovery.   However, gradually the features of Postini have been migrated into Gmail, and the Google Vault addition will be the final step to begin the process of migrating users away from Postini.

Watch for more developments to pick up in this specialized area.

Jeffrey Goodwin

Founder, eDiscoverySquad, LLC

http://ediscoverysquad.com/about-us

The post Google expected to roll out Vault (for Legal Holds) to existing business Gmail users very soon appeared first on eDiscoverySquad Litigation Support Services.