BIOS: Technology Means Business

Ipswitch has released the latest version of its Collaboration Suite (ICS), a set of collaboration tools based on e-mail which allow for real-time collaboration, calendar, and contact list sharing. It also protects from spam and viruses, without requiring a heavy back-end server. Designed for small- and mid-sized businesses, ICS can be managed from any location with delegated rights, and the entire suite can be run on a single mid-range server or distributed among several servers. The latest version of the software now includes anti-spam technology from Mail-Filters, including the Mail-Filters Bullet Signature Database and StarEngine features that can identify the toughest kind of spam messages without generating false positives, claims Ipswitch.

Pros: Requires a modest server; anti-spam technology
Cons: Only works on Windows servers and clients

Release: Ipswitch, the leading developer of network management, messaging and file transfer solutions, today announced the release of Ipswitch Collaboration Suite (ICS) 2.0. New anti-spam technology, available in ICS Premium and ISP editions, features spam profiles handcrafted by human editors to prevent the latest efforts in spam attacks.

'Spam continues to be a major problem with businesses,' said The Radicati Group's analyst, Teney Takahashi. 'No single solution is entirely effective at stopping spam - a multi-layered approach is needed to counter the quickly changing tactics of spammers. The combination of automated anti-spam technology and human analysis is far superior to single-layered anti-spam solutions, and should be closely considered by companies in their efforts to address the spam problem.'

More than 60 million people worldwide use Ipswitch messaging products to communicate over the Internet. Ipswitch Collaboration Suite is based upon IMail Server, a proven, scalable messaging server ideal for companies with tens to thousands of workers. ICS also includes secure instant messaging, server-based shared calendaring capabilities and free/busy functionality for Microsoft Outlook users, as well as anti-spam and anti-virus protection.

ICS Premium edition users are protected by Symantec carrier-class anti-virus technology, which combines automatic, non-disruptive updates with advanced customisation capabilities to allow administrators fine control of their anti-virus defences. Users of ICS Standard edition receive anti-virus technology using the BitDefender scanning engine.

'We have incorporated sophisticated anti-spam technology into Ipswitch Collaboration Suite 2.0 that is so easy to use, the only configuration administrators must perform is to turn on the protection,' said Ipswitch's vice president of marketing, Alex Neihaus. 'By combining the best of automated spam catching methods with multi-lingual human editors, we are restoring the reliability of messaging infrastructures. Collaboration is a cornerstone of doing business and companies cannot do enough to protect this vital part of their business communications.'

ICS Premium Anti-Spam is powered by Mail-Filters.com's Star Engine on the ICS server, which receives dynamic Bullet Signature Database updates every five minutes from Mail-Filters. Bullet Signatures are continuously created and updated at Mail-Filters' data centre via automated means and with a final review in over 30 languages by human editors.

The Star Engine component of ICS identifies spammer tricks by spotting suspicious misspellings, phishing attacks and other unique spam-identifying characteristics. ICS Premium Anti-Spam is tuned to look for very specific tricks and ignores general factors that can generate false positives. This sophisticated processing results in superior throughput at the ICS server, maximum catch rates and extraordinarily low false-positives. More impressively, administrators need only check one check box on the ICS server to effectively protect their messaging infrastructure from spam attacks and restore confidence in the delivery of business-critical e-mail.

In addition to anti-spam enhancements, Ipswitch Collaboration Suite 2.0 Standard and Premium editions also feature enhanced shared calendaring capabilities so that end-users can control access to their personal calendars and contact lists with granular permissions such as read only, create, edit or delete. Active Directory synchronisation is also available for groups. Both features further streamline the collaboration process so that users can achieve greater efficiencies in their day-to-day business activities.

ICS 2.0 offers users additional protection for their messaging infrastructure via implementation of the Sender Policy Framework, which allows users to verify that a sending machine was in fact authorised to send the message. ICS 2.0 also features a new integrated installation experience for all components, further reducing administrative costs and increasing productivity.

Ipswitch Collaboration Suite 2.0 Premium Edition is available for £799 for 25 users, £1602 for 100 users, £2671 for 250 users, £4275 for 1,000 users and £5880 for unlimited users. The ICS ISP/EDU Edition is available for £3,206 for unlimited users. All editions of ICS are also available through Ipswitch partners, which can be located through the Ipswitch Web site at www.ipswitch.com/partners. All prices include one year of service support. Current ICS Premium and ISP edition customers will receive ICS Premium Anti-Spam as part of their Ipswitch Service Agreements.