To help reduce the load on the e-mail server, many companies move older messages and attachments off of it and onto a separate network server. E-mail archiving tools can make it easy for users to access archived e-mail alongside their current in-boxes.

Nino Silvano, CIO of Argix Direct Inc., a logistics service provider for the retail industry, uses EMC Corp.'s EmailXtender software to move e-mail that is more than 30 days old to an archive that users can search. By offloading the messages from the Exchange server, users can be allotted more room for current mail -- up to 2GB per mailbox, though few ever need that much, says Silvano.

"We had a 180GB message store that we brought down to 30GB," he notes.

At UHS, e-mail archiving on the Veritas Enterprise Vault has made a big difference in performance. "It keeps my e-mail databases slim so they're running fast," says Hook.

He also saves space by using the DYS Control administrative software, which helps with housekeeping tasks such as cleaning out unused mailboxes. With 4,200 employees -- and frequent turnover for some positions -- abandoned mailboxes can use a lot of space.