Although users should know better, they still click on emails from strangers, only to spread trojans and viruses behind ISPs firewalls. Learn how Mirapoint's new product protects against trojans while making your network more efficient.

by ISP-Planet Staff [March 27, 2001]

Mirapoint debuted its Message Director email manager this week. The security device is designed to offload virus scanning and spam control from messaging servers, decreasing server processor utilization by up to 20 percent. A single Message Director can process 68,000 packets per hour—averaging about 18 messages per second.

Satish Ramachandran, Mirapoint chief executive officer, said that by providing secure messaging the company has created a new product category.

"We are responding to the recent wave of viruses that hit corporate networks through spam e-mail," Ramachandran said.

The Message Director includes the features of the Message Router 200 has been upgraded to a 1 GHz Pentium III processor with 768 MB of RAM and a new battery-back cache ensures messages are retained even if power is lost. The device itself employs dual hot-swappable power supplies and fans, so internal power is unlikely to fail.

The device also can be monitored directly through any of three secure interfaces—command line, Java GUI, or HTTPS.

The Message Director employs Trend Micro's anti-virus software, plus additional software to build a spam dictionary. The dictionary provides a layer of spam protection that is added to traditional lists such as the Realtime Blackhole List (RBL). Spam can be bounced, or if the network administrator wants to review the email message or spam, it can be forwarded to a quarantined mailbox.

Secure the DMZ
The device is deployed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) so that all e-mail traffic passes through it before entering the network. The Message Director can protect an entire network, but it can also be customized at the user level. For example, internal e-mail can be sent through the Message Director, which will scan internal e-mail for language that could be actionable under sexual harassment laws.

The device is designed to simplify a layer of distribution of security. Instead of reconfiguring thousands of desktops with each upgrade to security software, administrators can simply add the software to the Message Director to quickly protect an entire network. Tracking features enable service providers to offer new managed services to corporate customers, such as anti-virus protection, anti-spam capabilities, and policy-based messaging.

Wireless features combined with filters ensure that select people receive important messages. For example, the software is setup to search messages sent to a CEO, scanning for the word "IPO" in the header, specific messages to the CEO can be setup to ring through to a cell phone using Mirapoint's Short Message Services (SMS).

Logging functions ensure that questions about email can be answered. Every e-mail sent from the domain is logged, so that if, for example, there is a dispute with a vendor about an emailed invoice, the network administrator can find the disputed e-mail and easily determine its status—be it delayed, sent, incorrect address, and so on.

Beamer's messages
One of the first firms to adopt the Mirapoint MR 200 was BMW, the German auto maker. The messaging solution for BMW's entire network employed only three Message Director routers, which replaced six IBM AIX servers.

Rudolf Rauber, manager of communication applications for BMW Group, said the firm needed a solution that could be installed quickly and was flexible enough to work within our current messaging environment, and Mirapoint had just the ticket.

Powerful, easy to deploy, and reliable, the Message Director is intended for enterprise-level e-mail security. Mirapoint claims the Message Director can be installed in less than twenty minutes.

Pricing and availability
The Message Director will be priced starting at $26,000 USD and will be available in April, 2001.

The Message Director is 19 inches long, 28 inches wide, and 5.25 inches deep. It weighs about 67-pounds.

The warranty covers hardware for one year, software for ninety days, and around the clock technical support is available.

—End