Symantec has announced its updated Enterprise Vault 10 software, due out in the second half of 2010, will add new integration with the company's data loss prevention (DLP) and encryption technologies to automate governance processes.

Symantec says Enterprise Vault 10 will provide tools to automatically archive social media interactions for compliance, eDiscovery or corporate governance purposes.

The Data Classification Service (DCS) is a new feature that will leverage Symantec' DLP technology to analyse email content and metadata. This can automatically classify the email and assign the appropriate archiving and retention policy for that message or flag it to be reviewed for compliance reasons.

Classifications will also be able to be used as filters to speed up the search and review process for eDiscovery.

Symantec is adding the ability for organisations to discover data stored in the cloud and from social networks. Symantec's Software-as-a-Service-based Enterprise Vault.cloud will offer unlimited cloud storage for e-mail, with rapid search and access, for a flat fee per mailbox per month.

“Information streams are evolving from email to social networks and archives are moving from on-premise to the cloud, causing IT administrators to lose sleep over managing information and lawyers to debate new retention policies,” said Brian Dye, Vice President of Product Management, Symantec.

“Symantec Enterprise Vault and Enterprise Vault.cloud removes the stress from IT and legal users with its best of breed archiving technology to allow greater control and visibility into the archives to reduce eDiscovery costs.”