In brief: Postini beefs up spam blocker

Anti-spam service company Postini this week is updating its e-mail intrusion-prevention system with stronger IP analysis to detect spam before it enters corporate networks.

In Version 5.0 of Perimeter Manager, Postini has enhanced the service so that once an IP address sends spam to a customer's e-mail account, Postini automatically blocks mail from that IP address bound for any of its users. In Version 5.0, the company also has included a whitelist facility for IP addresses it has determined never or rarely send spam or viruses, factoring in those good reputations when determining a rating for whether an e-mail is considered spam. For messages that score high on Postini's spam rating, Version 5.0 includes a "blatant spam blocking" feature that deletes such messages instead of sending them into quarantine. Postini also has renovated the user interface.

The upgraded service is priced from $6 to $30 per user, per year, with a minimum cost of $2,500.

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Anti-spam service company Postini this week is updating its e-mail intrusion-prevention system with stronger IP analysis to detect spam before it enters corporate networks.

In Version 5.0 of Perimeter Manager, Postini has enhanced the service so that once an IP address sends spam to a customer's e-mail account, Postini automatically blocks mail from that IP address bound for any of its users. In Version 5.0, the company also has included a whitelist facility for IP addresses it has determined never or rarely send spam or viruses, factoring in those good reputations when determining a rating for whether an e-mail is considered spam. For messages that score high on Postini's spam rating, Version 5.0 includes a "blatant spam blocking" feature that deletes such messages instead of sending them into quarantine. Postini also has renovated the user interface.

The upgraded service is priced from $6 to $30 per user, per year, with a minimum cost of $2,500.

Vintela, which develops software to integrate Windows and competing platforms, has developed an extension to Microsoft's management software that lets users control Unix, Linux and Macintosh computers.

The company last week shipped Vintela Management Extensions 1.0, a set of components for Microsoft's System Management Server 2003 that provide discovery, inventory, distribution, reporting and remote features for managing servers and desktops, regardless of platform. The software can help consolidate management chores to one platform and help users avoid retraining on other tools when integrating non-Windows platforms into a Windows network.

VMX is priced starting at about $1,200, which includes server, console and four client components. Additional client-side components are $75 per desktop and $125 per sever. The prices include a Windows client-access license, and Microsoft Product Support Services is providing first-level support for users with Enterprise Agreements.

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