SMBs hosting their own e-mail servers may find reason to cheer now that 3Com has announced — in conjunction with Toronto, Canada-based, BorderWare — a new e-mail firewall designed to provide enterprise-level security to SMBs. The 3Com E-mail Firewall “powered by BorderWare” promises ease of use and affordability while protecting your business from a host of nasty viruses and opportunistic threats.
According to Neal Kaufman, the company’s vice-president of product marketing, 3Com partnered with BorderWare to combine the Canadian company’s enterprise security expertise with 3Com’s channel reach.
“Small and medium businesses are just as likely as large companies to be targeted and overwhelmed spam or e-mail-borne viruses,” said Kaufman. “Joining forces with BorderWare — a leader in big enterprise messaging security — to develop the new E-mail Firewall demonstrates 3Com continued commitment to deliver enterprise-class solutions to the SMB market.”
Available either as a 1U rack mountable or stand-alone appliance, the firewall sits on the network in front of the e-mail server and monitors both incoming and outgoing e-mail traffic. Most security firewalls don’t examine outgoing e-mail, Kaufman said, but performing both inbound and outbound scanning prevents external viruses from entering your network, circulating rapidly through your business and being sent out to your satellite offices, customers or vendors.
Kaufman noted that the device performs anti-virus and anti-spam screening and content filtering while it also prevents denial of service (DoS) attacks and blended attacks (an attack that combines elements of worms and viruses to create as much damage as possible).
The firewall also detects other security problems such as stealth or invisible viruses, self-encoding viruses, Macro-viruses that infect Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, network worms, Trojans and malformed messages.
Kaufman said the firewall provides a level of security and ease of use at a price previously unavailable to SMBs. He said someone with general networking knowledge ca setup the system in about ten-to-15 minutes. Designed and licensed to support up to 100 people, the E-mail Firewall costs $2,799. The annual renewal charge is $1399.
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Wall of Fire — 3Com and BorderWare offer an e-mail firewall to SMBs that host their own e-mail servers. Analysts say it’s a good deal. |
Kneko Burney, chief market strategist with In-Stat concurs. “I am so excited about this product,” she said.
“This firewall is perfectly designed for small companies that are large or savvy enough to host their own Exchange server. This one is easy to install, easy to maintain and cost effective,” she said. “Even companies with advanced technical skills want solutions that are hands-off.”
Burney went on to say that SMB owners can’t afford to take chances with their e-mail security. “Networks are tools, not toys,” she said. “Don’t jeopardize your business by not securing your e-mail. This solution is both well-designed and well-priced for small business.”
Lauren Simonds is the managing editor of SmallBusinessComputing.com
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