The shared public folder is a most basic form of content management found in almost any organization. Public folders provide a simple way to organize and share data, and for many purposes they work well enough. But things like compliance and eDiscovery are now making many companies question how well their data infrastructure holds up for managing information.
For those who are unwilling to give up on the simplicity of managing data in file system hierarchies, a technology called File Area Networks (FAN) is evolving. FAN blends intelligent software and many distributed network devices together to create a common network of file storage. Interesting. But if your goal is to be able to address compliance, eDiscover and enterprise search, your really should be considering ECM, a robust option that was specifically designed to address those problems.
