As it is, more business lawsuits are filed in state courts than federal, which may explain the lack of urgency, said Gregg Davis, chief information officer for Webcor Builders, a construction company.

But state rules are similar to federal rules and some states are specifically adopting the new FRCP rules. Businesses need to include FRCP compliance in their ongoing IT planning, Davis said. "It will take time for this to fully filter down, but IT managers and CIOs should have this in mind."

Multiple software companies have begun offering e-discovery software or services, but some focus on different areas, such as e-mail archiving, data protection, or deduplication, said Gartner's Bace. "This is a hot market but it's fragmented."

Recommind, for instance, provides e-discovery technology to law firms and the legal departments of enterprises. Recommind introduced a new e-mail discovery product Tuesday.

The market will remain unsettled for a while, said Marie-Charlotte Patterson, vice president of market strategy at AXS-One, a records compliance management firm.

"No one company addresses all the e-discovery requirements from A to Z, so companies may be working with more than one vendor," said Patterson.