Rockliffe's MailSite version 5 mail software and Sphera's HostingBusiness Suite are now fully integrated to provide a more complete solution for ISPs and webhosts.

by ISP-Planet Staff [February 14, 2003]

Mail infrastructure vendor Rockliffe announced that its MailSite version 5 software is fully integrated with Sphera's HostingBusiness Suite of webhosting automation software. No reduced or bundled pricing was announced.

Andrew Lochart, vice president of marketing for Rockliffe (and former marketing director at Sendmail and Mirapoint), said the two companies complement each other well. "We focus on e-mail. Sphera has a much broader perspective covering the entire ISP business."

Rockliffe, whose software runs on Microsoft Windows, uses an architecture based on open APIs to ease integration with other software. The company works with F-Secure for anti-virus (a company that is better known in Europe than in the United States), and its APIs have enabled customers to deploy voice services. The company builds its own SIEVE scripts for anti-spam, but Lochart says the company will work with a good vendor when it has chosen one.

He notes, "the anti-spam market is where anti-virus was five years ago. There are many vendors and many approaches, and a shakeout has not occurred. We are looking for an anti-spam agent we can license and tightly integrate, and hope to do so later this year."

He understands that many ISPs are skeptical about using Windows, but says they should not be, noting, "poorly-written applications do exist, but many are ports from UNIX, and ports, as we all know, can be bad. Companies do write reliable and stable applications for Windows."

He adds that the real Windows advantage is that it's easier to find and retain staff. "There are more MSCEs than UNIX gurus in the world. Consider the availability of talent, the salaries, and the price of the hardware itself, and you'll see Windows has real advantages. It's true that you can pay for features you're not using now, but you'll also get many useful applications, especially in the front office, where ease of use can be more important than reliability."

During the rest of 2003, Rockliffe will be improving its anti-virus, anti-spam, and wireless access features.

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