The X1 Enterprise Collect Platform now indexes in-place and collects ESI from M365 Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint. While most other Microsoft partners utilize the Graph API to extend Microsoft’s Purview eDiscovery and compliance functionality, X1 execs John Patzakis and Kunjan Zaveri gave me a deep dive into the advantages offered by their ‘direct connector’ approach.

X1’s top level take-aways in their own words:

  • X1’s Teams support targets individual custodians and specific messaging threads, displacing any need to mass download Teams chats and channels.
    • X1 collects and searches Teams content directly without relying on the Microsoft Graph content search API, which has known gaps.
  • X1 indexes, searches and processes Teams data in-place, removing any reliance on premium processing or supplemental services.
    • Modern attachments are collected and searched in place and automated data formatting enables one-click upload into Relativity for review.
  • Unified search and collection of on-premise and cloud data sources, including Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Mail, laptops and file-shares for an optimized workflow
    • Provides True ECA and processing capabilities at the point of collection. Assess, process, and collect only what is needed, narrowing funnel at point of collection.

eDJ Perspectives:

Archiving and enterprise search products like Autonomy IDOL struggled to deliver a ‘universal index’ for decades. Cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace provide content search across their primary cloud data sources via a variety of connectors and compliance copies behind the scenes. While these federation methods meet or exceed end user search requirements, they can struggle to meet the stringent eDiscovery/compliance requirements and may require premium licenses. (author clarification – the Microsoft documentation link provides the known search limits and exclusions for Purview eDiscovery Standard or Content searches. Purview eDiscovery Premium applies enhanced indexing and search capabilities comparable to many eDiscovery platforms for the typical Microsoft Office and PDF file types.)

Replicating the existing M365 search could be considered redundant. X1’s distributed index approach allows them to expand a user’s M365 sources to include desktops, fileshares and 3rd party content such as Dropbox. It offloads much of the processing overhead to endpoint devices and avoids some of Purview Premium’s throughput limits for larger custodial matters. Past Purview advanced indexing performance testing for eDJ corporate clients resulted in limiting  SLA’s to 1-3 full custodians per day. Microsoft’s infrastructure is evolving at amazing speed, so expect continued feature and performance improvements.

Digging into the X1 Enterprise details:

  • Teams messages are exported in Relativity short message format, JSON is on the X1 roadmap.
  • Can index selective date ranges.
  • X1 reported benchmark testing of 25 mailboxes in 4-8 hours.
  • X1 can access mailboxes via direct connector or user Outlook (which excludes some hidden folder content).
  • X1 does not yet handle Loop component connections, but they do collect modern attachments to preserve connections post collection.
  • X1’s partnership supports one-click collection to RelativityOne.

As always, I love to hear real world success and challenge stories from peers in the field. So reach out to share your experience with X1 Enterprise or M365 Purview.

Greg Buckles wants your feedback, questions or project inquiries at Greg@eDJGroupInc.com. Contact him directly for a free 15 minute ‘Good Karma’ call if he has availability. He solves problems and creates eDiscovery solutions for enterprise and law firm clients.

Greg’s blog perspectives are personal opinions and should not be interpreted as a professional judgment or advice. Greg is no longer a journalist and all perspectives are based on best public information. Blog content is neither approved nor reviewed by any providers prior to being published. Do you want to share your own perspective? Greg is looking for practical, professional informative perspectives free of marketing fluff, hidden agendas or personal/product bias. Outside blogs will clearly indicate the author, company and any relevant affiliations. 

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