GFI's GDPdU-certified GFI MailArchiver helps businesses to become compliant in terms of email storage and retrieval
GFI Software, a leading email and security software provider today announces that its email archiving software for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) - GFI MailArchiver - has been certified to help businesses comply with Germany's fiscal law GDPdU. Since 2007, the German Courts' interpretation of the existing legislation has become more stringent, making it necessary for businesses to have their digital documents in order and auditable. The consequences of non-compliance with Germany's stringent legal and regulatory compliance are extremely serious with organizations facing fines of up to €250,000.
The GDPdU (Grundsätze zum Datenzugriff und zur Prüfbarkeit digitaler Unterlagen) was introduced by the Germany Ministry of Finance in 2001 to regulate the storage, access (by the finance authority) and authenticity (by digital signatures) of electronic tax-related data, accounting information, invoices and so on, that a typical company generates.
GDPdU dictates the basic requirements for accessibility and integrity of digitally archived documents. This regulation assures that all tax-relevant documents that have been produced or received digitally are also archived in this form. Retrieval of these documents needs to be realized with the same mechanisms that generated them.
"With fines of up to a quarter of a million euro for those failing to comply, the consequences are serious. GFI MailArchiver, the leading and most cost-effective archiving solution for SMBs, has just been certified GDPdU compliant, making it an excellent tool to help companies comply with this important law in terms of documentation sent and received via email. For €2,000, a 100-user company, for example, has the assurance that it is compliant with the law yet it will also benefit from a product that makes the IT administrators' life so much easier," GFI's CEO Walter Scott said.
Cost-effective and providing outstanding value in terms of functionality, ease-of-use and security, the software archives all corporate email, reduces dependency on troublesome PST files and the need to manage these files, while permitting the organization's employees to access their own old and deleted emails at any time and from any location.
Administrators are no longer forced to compromise between mailbox size quotas and Exchange performance. With GFI MailArchiver, users benefit from a near 'unlimited' mailbox because the software archives email in an SQL database and not on Exchange. With fewer storage demands, a smaller Exchange store, and no stub files left on the server, administrators will notice a marked increase in performance.
Many businesses still underestimate the need to archive email correspondence. Research carried out by GFI Software in the UK in March 2009 found that only 41% of small and medium sized businesses have rules stating where emails should be stored. Furthermore, 50% of 269 respondents show a serious lack of awareness of the important legislative and compliance changes in this area over the past five years and the increased risk of liability if they do not archive emails.
For more information about GFI MailArchiver visit: http://www.gfi.com/mailarchiver.
About GFI
GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. With award-winning technology, an aggressive pricing strategy and a strong focus on small-to-medium sized businesses, GFI is able to satisfy the need for business continuity and productivity encountered by organizations on a global scale. GFI has offices in the US, Malta, UK, Hong Kong and Australia which support more than 200,000 installations worldwide. GFI is a channel-focused company with over 10,000 partners worldwide. GFI is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. More information about GFI can be found at http://www.gfi.com.