Kerio MailServer 6.1 Offers Alternative to Microsoft

Looking for an alternative to using Microsoft Outlook and Exchange for e-mail and collaboration? Kerio, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based software provider, today announced MailServer 6.1. Designed to work with all POP3 and IMAP desktop mail clients for Windows, Linux and Mac, the new version supports Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and adds Spam Repellent and dual anti-virus scanning to its malware-fighting repertoire.

SPF is a form of e-mail domain authentication that’s designed to stop spammers from forging the “From” fields in an e-mail. Support for SPF complements the company’s existing support for Caller ID, a rival authentication technology developed by Microsoft. The new release also includes SpamAssassin 3.0.2.

The new Spam Repellent feature is designed to fight both spam and viruses by inserting a delay in the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) handshake, which causes a virus or spam-sending zombie to give up attempting to connect to the mail server.

Kerio claims that Spam Repellent cuts 60-to-70 percent of spam and viruses before they reach the server. It also eliminates false positives, Kerio Vice President of Marketing Dusan Vitek said, because the technique doesn’t affect legitimate e-mail traffic.

To double your virus protection, Kerio 6.1 offers dual anti-virus scanning capbility so that mail administrators can simultaneously use both the built-in McAfee anti-virus software and a third-party anti-virus product through plug-ins for Symantec, Sophos, Grisoft AVG, Eset NOD 32, Computer Associates and VisNetic Antivirus.

For Mac users, Kerio MailServer 6.1 supports the latest version of Mac OS X (aka, Tiger), adding synchronization with Apple’s Address Book and iCal applications and improved integration with Microsoft’s Entourage groupware client. Vitek said that 16 percent of Kerio MailServer sales are for the Mac version.

Vitek said that the new Webmail client, which is designed to resemble Microsoft Outlook, now includes an HTML editor in the mail composer and supports Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox and Safari 2.0. The company also offers a simplified version of the e-mail client for Palm and PDA devices. “We like choices,” Vitek said.

For e-mail administrators, Kerio MailServer 6.1 offer Web-based administration console for all platforms for remote management. “For example, you can manage Linux servers from Windows notebooks.”

Prices for Kerio Mail Server 6.1 start at $499 for 20 users, which doesn’t include the McAfee anti-virus (with McAfee, the price is $899 for 20 users).

Dan Muse is executive editor of internet.com Small Business Channel, EarthWeb’s Networking & Communications Channel and ServerWatch.