E-mail remains one of the largest vulnerabilities of any enterprise network, with viruses, worms, spam and other threats constantly filling e-mail inboxes. There are nearly as many technologies to combat these problems as there are ways for virus writers to get around them, but IronPort Systems' e-mail security appliances may be the answer.
IronPort's products differ from most solutions because they are designed specifically to handle tremendous amounts of e-mail. The appliances can also combat virus outbreaks before they become common knowledge. Viruses tend to run in the wild for several hours, if not days, before most antivirus vendors update their products to combat the new threats. This delay leaves high-volume networks open to infections. IronPort uses normalization technology to create virus outbreak filters, which compare incoming e-mail traffic against a defined norm, and singles out e-mails that appear suspicious. This process can buy enterprises valuable time when new threats appear.
IronPort's comprehensive spam-filtering system is built around BrightMail's antispam technology. What's more, IronPort builds on BrightMail's capabilities by leveraging both blacklists and whitelists. These lists are kept up-to-date using sendorbase.org, a large antispam clearinghouse that receives updates from 24,000 contributing organizations and handles more than 3 billion daily queries. That information is used to calculate a reputation score, which rates an e-mail's validity. The combination of these technologies helps to greatly reduce false positives while still keeping spam out of the network.
The IronPort C10 uses antivirus scanning technology from Sophos in conjunction with its own virus outbreak technology to combat malicious code arriving via e-mail. The technologies work together to generate a virus outbreak reputation filter, which helps to further contain any e-mail-borne threats.
IronPort's Asynchronous Operating System can process as many as 140 messages per second and 10,000 simultaneous connections, far beyond the capabilities of most e-mail servers. With that in mind, IronPort's queue and retry process prevent the system from overwhelming most e-mail servers. However, if an e-mail server goes down, the IronPort system can queue all mail for later delivery.
The device is easy to install, and the browser-based user interface is simple to navigate. The main interface can summarize high-volume processes, but the interface can also show pertinent information in detail to isolate an event and detect anomalies.
IronPort's two-level channel program offers varying levels of technical, marketing and pre and post-sales support, account and transaction management and support, and sales and marketing tools. IronPort did not disclose its average solution provider margins.
CHANNEL PROGRAM SNAPSHOTS
> IRONPORT C10
COMPANY: IronPort Systems
San Bruno, Calif.
(650) 989-6500
www.ironport.com
DISTRIBUTORS: Direct from vendor
TECH RATING: 
CHANNEL RATING: 
Note: Vendors can earn up to five stars for technical merit and five for their channel program. If the average of these two scores is four stars or greater, the product earns CRN Test Center Recommended status.
