MailEnable offers three versions of its mail software, ranging from a free option to a full-featured Enterprise solution.

by Jeff Goldman [January 5, 2005]

MailEnable was incorporated in 2002. According to Peter Fregon, MailEnable's Product Services Director, the company's first software release was the MailEnable Standard Edition, which was made available for free online. Once additional functionality like webmail and anti-virus support was added, the company began to charge for the higher-level versions of the software.

The company's founders, Fregon says, came from larger hosting companies, and started MailEnable in order to offer a mail solution that didn't have per-seat licensing. "The Standard version's still free," he says. "It's the standard install in a lot of hosting sites, because it doesn't have the licensing restrictions or cost. We've got some customers who have 30,000 mailboxes on one server, and that can be done with the free version."

MailEnable +613 9569-0772 sales@mailenable.com

The Professional Version of MailEnable adds webmail and anti-virus support, as well as Web administration, mail filtering, and IMAP services. "It's lot more fully featured," Fregon says. "We've got customers running up to 40,000 mailboxes on it, but we recommend the Enterprise version for that because of the load on the server—it's best to use a database for configuration when it gets that large."

MailEnable's Enterprise Version gives the ISP even more control over the customer experience. The Professional version lets the ISP control offerings like anti-virus or webmail only at the server level, while the Enterprise version allows those offerings to be controlled separately for each customer, enabling the ISP to charge for those services.

The Enterprise version also allows for thorough database integration with the ISP's own system, and adds other services like advanced webmail with HTML editing ability and an Outlook-style interface, additional mail filters, and enhanced anti-spam features. "It also has personal calendaring, so customers can set up their own appointments within their Web browser," Fregon says.

Advanced functionality
Both the Professional and Enterprise versions, Fregon says, allow the ISP to customize the appearance of the interface. "What makes the Professional and Enterprise versions attractive to a lot of customers is that they can change the look and feel if they're familiar with HTML and ASP," he says. "We've had a couple of customers change the interface completely, so it doesn't look like our product at all."

Both the Professional and Enterprise versions can also be integrated with a wide range of anti-virus products, including F-Prot, Sophos, and Norton. For spam, the Professional version includes server-level filtering, while the Enterprise version adds Bayesian filtering on a per-mailbox level.

MailEnable also supports COM objects for more thorough integration. "All of our configuration information is available through these COM objects," Fregon says. "We've had a lot of customers integrate it with their own systems very easily and quickly—like the hosting customers, for instance, who want to integrate to their own signup pages and allow customers to edit their configuration information; it's very easy for them to do that."

Pricing for all versions of MailEnable is listed on the company's Web site. As mentioned, the Standard version is free, while the Professional version costs $220 for unlimited domains and mailboxes, and the Enterprise version costs $560. Both the Professional and Enterprise versions are priced per server, allowing for an unlimited number of domains and mailboxes.

Installation and updates
Andy Saw is Technical Manager of the Malaysia-based ExaBytes Network, a Web hosting company founded in 2001. "Currently, we have more than 25 servers colocated in our U.S. and Malaysian data centers, serving users from 70 countries—and the number of users keeps growing every day," Saw says.

When the company upgraded its Windows hosting services to Windows 2003, Saw says, they began looking for a new Windows mail solution. Their biggest concerns were finding an affordable pricing structure, and ensuring support for effective anti-virus solutions—and they found what they were looking for in MailEnable.

The ease of setup and integration with Exa Bytes' existing systems, Saw says, was a key factor for the company. "The installation of the MailEnable mail server is straightforward, and has most of the predefined default settings configured so it can be ready to serve as a mail server for those administrators who have less experience in application configuration," he says.

Finally, Saw says the company frequently releases updates—and he says the support staff has been very responsive when he has additional questions. "They are constantly releasing updates and hot fixes, which help to resolve errors and bugs which users report, as well as adding more new built-in features," he says.

— End

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Online resource:
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