Don't have a back-up system? InBoxer can archive to low cost USB drives. I saw a 1TB USB hard drive online yesterday for $350. That is easy to add.

If you want to go off-site, InBoxer also supports off-site storage hosted by Amazon.com.

We are able to use expandable storage with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

First, to make sure that archived files are not changed, InBoxer creates an encrypted signature for each file. The archived file signature must match the record kept by InBoxer to prove authenticity. This step helps you in your efforts to establish the chain of custody of a message.

Second, no matter what you choose, InBoxer will keep a local copy of any message placed on "litigation hold" to prevent accidental deletion of a message that must be kept.

David: How does your offering compete against, say, Postini? How about AXS-One, who we've interviewed before?

Roger: Dave, I will never say a bad word about a competitor. Both Postini and AXS-One are successful companies with loyal customers. We position ourselves differently.

The InBoxer Anti-Risk Appliance is the only product that provides archiving, electronic discovery, and real-time compliance alerts in an easy-to-install and easy-to-use appliance.

I suggest that Domino sites look at everyone. Even if you decide not to select InBoxer, I can tell you some things to look for.

Make sure that whatever product you pick will capture every email message, including internal mail. Internal email is critical because it contains most of the off-the-cuff, casual email conversations that tend to trigger lawsuits and arm litigators with evidence. This is a good question to ask hosted solutions vendors because many require extra services to configure systems for internal mail.

Make sure that your product never changes the original email or you risk spoiling the evidence. You may be surprised to learn that some well established solutions add metadata or otherwise change messages.

Ask about how easy is it to find emails you need. I have a couple of questions you can ask. How easy is it to find offensive messages that do not contain dirty words? Can your system distinguish between emails that mention a competitor's product and an email addressed to a competitor? Can you find any message that contains any credit card number?

Can you protect messages from being deleted accidentally or intentionally? Violations of "litigation hold" provisions can lead to significant penalties or adverse judgments.

Can you create accounts for your HR executive and legal counsel? Or, will requests require IT help?

And, can you monitor for on-going problems? For example, it is not enough just to find harassing email. You need to know whether the harassment has stopped or your company could face penalties.

David: What else should we know?

We really care about IBM Lotus Domino and worked hard to implement InBoxer correctly. While some companies may claim that they work with Domino, many of them don't understand the problems or require professional services.