MailMarshal Shows Up For Showdown With Symantec
The CRN Test Center reviewed MailMarshal and found that Marshal has brought the product to the next level when it comes to protecting both inbound and outbound e-mail from malware, compliance issues, inappropriate content and phishing schemes. The product also includes zero-day protection technology that secures data immediately instead of waiting for the ubiquitous signature updates that most security products require.
A quick look at MailMarshal SMTP 2006 shows that protection schemes cover antispam, antiphishing, antivirus, antispyware, denial-of-service attacks, directory harvest attacks and a full suite of compliance capabilities.
An in-depth look exposes how capable the product is at handling those myriad threats. The product's minimum requirements are a Windows 2000/XP/2003 system running on a Pentium 4 processor with 10 Gbytes of available drive space, an MSDE 2000 or equivalent database, 512 Mbytes of RAM and .Net 1.1.
Installation is straightforward and wizard-driven, and should take solution providers mere minutesas long as they have done the proper due diligence in the deployment planning phase. The product will need to know the network/e-mail servers' SMTP settings and other connectivity requirements.
Once the product is installed, administrators will use the configurator console to set up the software. The configurator also is wizard-driven. The paradigm offered by the configurator utility extends beyond initial setup. Most maintenance and customization can be performed with the configurator, thereby simplifying deployment changes.
For those looking to delve deeper into the product's capabilities, drill-down menus are offered under each security capability, which allows fine-tuning of individual elements. Solution providers will be impressed with the array of policy settings; large inbound and outbound e-mails can be deferred to low utilization times on the network, while compliance scanning can be accomplished using both custom and predefined rules.
The product offers integration with LDAP and Novell Directory Services, as well as with Active Directory for complete policy integration with existing users and groups. Policies can be defined to reject messages based on content, size, origin and destination.
The product's impressive antispam capabilities include white-listing, black-listing and auto responders. End users are given the capabilities to control their antispam settingsalthough this typically is handled by administrators.
The antivirus settings prove to be equally flexible, and solution providers can choose from many different antivirus-software vendors to bring customization to the product. One item of note is MailMarshal's support of the Norman Antivirus "sandbox" technology, which helps contain zero-day outbreaks by detecting new executables embedded in e-mails that do not fit a predetermined classification. Those executables can then be quarantined for further examination.
Another feature included with inbound filtering is HELO support, which identifies new messages from FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) servers and preprocesses those messages before they enter the network. If the HELO message header does not match the FQDN or other criteria, the message can be rejected before it enters the antispam engine. This proves to be an expedient method for dealing with spam.
Outbound filtering can be set up to identify specific contentranging from social security numbers to images to documentswhich also proves to be a key feature for solution providers building compliance-centric solutions.
Marshal's channel program contains three tiers. The entry-level tier for affiliate partners is aimed at new partners with a growth strategy and those looking to build a stronger relationship with the vendor. Affiliate partners must have a primary customer focus on small businesses and small to midsize enterprises. They must reference Marshal as a partner on their Web site and participate in marketing activities.
Affiliate partners also can use Marshal software on internal systems, receive free evaluation software, access a dedicated trial download link, access the knowledge base and online support, access MarshalNet, participate in product incentives, attend Webinars and training sessions, and receive business updates and news from Marshal.
The next level, for the solutions partner, has all of the above but with more specific requirements including dedicated personnel, training and demonstrated capabilities. Certification is required. Higher margins and improved marketing support are some of the benefits offered at this level.
The top tier is for authorized enterprise partners and is aimed at security-centric VARs that support enterprise-level accounts. Inclusion in the program requires a larger commitment on the part of the VAR toward dedicated personnel, business plans and marketing efforts. The top tier also receives extended support and profit opportunities from Marshal.
All three partner levels can expect margins ranging from 10 percent to 35 percent, according to the company.
