Investment Firm - EV Migration

Migration to modern, cloud-native archiving solutions is primarily driven by the need to reduce or eliminate infrastructure and related costs, and reduce administrative overheads. A corporate-wide investment in Office 365 can be leveraged to achieve greater productivity and user transparency. Transitioning from Enterprise Vault to a cloud-based environment has become a strategic imperative for scalability, efficiency and innovation.

Modern, cloud-native archiving solutions help organisations meet long-term business and regulatory records retention needs. High-performance, built-in search, litigation hold and export capabilities address all basic e-discovery needs with advanced features, such as Case Management to help streamline e-discovery processes and reduce costs. Simple monitoring and reviewing of email and other digital communications ensures corporate and regulatory compliance.  

Decades-worth of emails retained in journals adds complexity to any migration project as effective chain of custody is essential for compliance. For example, BCC recipients, the recipients of any distribution list at the time of sending are essential pieces of metadata for legal departments in eDiscovery if they are involved in a legal case. Incorrect management of BCC information is a top data breach, according to ICO.

A lack of effective planning can lead to unforeseen costs and delay, while large data volumes can make the migration lengthy and resource intensive. Security and compliance concerns, especially with sensitive data, require careful consideration and a robust migration service.

As a highly diversified institutional investor, the Investment Firm manage a vast portfolio across a broad range of asset classes, including equities, fixed income, real estate, private equity, and alternative investments, spanning various geographies.  Technologically, they leverage advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing to optimise investment decisions, enhance operational efficiency, and manage its extensive global asset base, making it a key player in the intersection of finance and cutting-edge technology.

The Investment Firm used an on-premise Enterprise Vault (EV) solution to manage email storage and retain critical business emails for regulatory compliance.  EV mailbox archiving was used to manage storage within users' mailboxes and EV journal archiving was used for data retention and compliance.  Looking to leverage modern, cloud-native archiving solutions, they needed to securely and efficiently migrate approximately 30 terabytes of EV mailbox archived data to O365 and 50 terabytes of EV journal data to the Proofpoint archive solution.

Regulatory Compliance
As an organisation in a highly regulated industry, stringent demands meant that all data processing had to be secure and audited with full 'Chain of Custody'.

Data Fidelity
Ensuring every email, attachment, and metadata fields (such as BCC) were accurately transferred without loss or corruption was paramount

Security and Access Control
To prevent unauthorised exposure, robust encryption, secure transfer protocols, and the preservation of granular access permissions throughout the entire process was required 

Legacy System Complexities
Dealing with proprietary formats, ageing infrastructure, and potential data inconsistencies needed detailed care and consideration

Performance and Downtime
Minimising disruption to business operations and ensuring rapid data accessibility post-migration

Validation and Verification
Establishing comprehensive testing and auditing procedures to confirm the successful and compliant transfer of all data before decommissioning the old system

Following a comprehensive evaluation of competing solutions, the Investment Firm selected TrueSwift, Proofpoint and Microsoft as the preferred suppliers to provide an end-to-end solution to replace their legacy Enterprise Vault platform.

The Investment Firm appointed TrueSwift as the preferred archive migration services provider due to our specialised expertise and proven track record in handling the intricate challenges associated with such complex projects, particularly for highly secure and regulated environments. A fully managed service was planned and delivered despite many challenges.

“During the project involving the extraction of our 52TB mailbox archive and a 54TB journaling archiving task, our TrueSwift consultants demonstrated remarkable expertise in navigating the complexities of our requirements. A deep understanding of the intricacies involved was evident throughout with attention to detail being instrumental in ensuring the seamless execution of the task. A proactive approach resulted in significant enhancements in the efficiency of our operations and the commitment to delivering results while maintaining the highest standards of quality and accuracy far exceeded our expectations”.   Senior Specialist & Service Lead

The solution consisted of a combination of expert archive migration services and specialist migration software.  Temporary migration infrastructure was required throughout the project which TrueSwift designed and implemented within the Investment Firm's Azure tenancy.

The project was planned and executed across 2 distinct phases, run in parallel to minimise overall project duration.  One stream migrated EV mailbox archives for live users into O365 while a second stream targeted the EV journal data extraction.

The migration was also managed 24/7 to ensure the quickest throughput and reduced project timeframe.  Throughout the engagement, weekly calls were held to keep the customer up to date with progress and to discuss any issues (including migration failures).  Weekly reports were also generated, providing detailed insight into performance and other throughput metrics.