Iomega Plus Postini Equals MegaTini

Back in August 2006, we reported Iomega's entry into the managed services arena, and its goal to bring enterprise-level applications to small businesses that could never otherwise afford them. Dubbed the Iomega OfficeScreen, the line consisted of a combination firewall and VPN appliance. Today's announcement adds another layer of managed service and protection to the OfficeScreen brand.

Through a partnership with Postini, a leader in on-demand communications and compliance solutions for e-mail, instant messaging and the Web, Iomega now offers a service called OfficeScreen Managed E-mail Security and Spam Defense – Powered by Postini. The service, which routes customers' e-mail through Postini's servers for a serious scrubbing prior to delivery, strips out spam and blocks viruses, phishing, other e-mail threats and inappropriate content (as defined by the customer).

Small businesses face the same security challenges as do big companies and, according to John Huberman, Iomega's CEO, this partnership allows small businesses to benefit from Postini's expertise. "Postini doesn't sell to small businesses directly," said Huberman "But every company needs an anti-spam filter and e-mail security, and this partnership makes that possible. Our small business channel and presence lets Postini broaden its reach, and we can now offer our customers a world-class security solution."

According to Iomega, small businesses stand to benefit from a managed, enterprise-level e-mail security service. Such a service can help to protect intellectual property and give SMBs a way to comply with mandated regulations such as Federal Rules of Civil Procedures (FRCP), State Information Privacy Acts, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

"[Postini's] services fit perfectly into Iomega’s OfficeScreen managed services suite…and we’re very excited about this relationship and [that] SMBs can now benefit from communications security and compliance solutions that used to be beyond their reach," Huberman said in a written statement.

Channel Surfing
Iomega is making OfficeScreen Managed E-mail Security and Spam Defense – Powered by Postini available through the VAR and distribution channel. For example, Tech Data, an IT product distributor with more than 90,000 customers around the world, will start selling the service in July as a stand-alone product or bundled with other OfficeScreen managed services, including Juniper Networks’ Firewall, IPSec site-to-site VPN, and SSL (secure socket layer) VPN solutions with VeriSign, Inc.’s two-factor authentication.

Huberman said that the service is designed for companies with as few as 10 employees, and it can scale up to 500 employees. He also noted that their target sweet spot runs from 10- to 250-employee range. Pricing depends on the specific user-level but generally costs $30 - $36 per person per year.

Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com