Mirapoint Intros New Platform And OS For Its E-Mail, Security Appliances

Both appliances now use Intel Xeon processors and hyperthreading technology. As a result, the Message Server 45-series now supports up to 310,000 SPecmail (Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation) users on one appliance. With the new hardware platform, the Message Director can process more than 600,000 e-mail messages per hour, said Jeff Brainard, senior product marketing manager at Mirapoint, Sunnyvale, Calif.

The company also introduced a new version of its Mirapoint Messaging Operating System, MOS 3.4. With the new MOS features, the Message Server becomes an all-in-one Web mail appliance, said Brainard, that integrates e-mail routing, storage, wireless access and management with multiple security layers.

"We're also trying to provide users with a more native e-mail clientlike experience accessible through a Web interface," said Brainard. Group calendaring is also integrated for online collaboration.

The Message Server supports Microsoft Outlook as well, giving users the ability to schedule in Outlook and synchronize the changes with the Mirapoint back end.

Both the Message Server and Message Director are sold through resellers. Additional opportunities are also popping up for solution providers as a result of new product features. The platform now gives users who don't traditionally use e-mail, such as factory floor workers or truck drivers, secure remote access to e-mail--something enterprises are looking to add, said Brainard.

Message Director, which sits on the network edge, delivers an additional layer of security to existing e-mail servers that protects against such threats as hackers, spam and viruses. New capabilities include custom message processing, enhanced content filtering to prevent e-mail abuse and information leaks, and new queue management tools to isolate or delete inappropriate or threatening e-mails. In addition, Message Director now gives users secure remote access to Web-based e-mail applications such as Outlook Web Access and Lotus iNotes.

Pricing for the 45-series Message Server starts at $15,000 for the core hardware, software and storage. Message Director, including hardware, software, storage and an LDAP routing license, starts at $25,000.