Mirapoint bolsters messaging server

Messaging vendor Mirapoint this month plans to begin shipping an appliance combining e-mail, management and security that is designed to help small and midsize businesses simplify their infrastructures and reduce costs.

The M50 Messaging Server includes an address book and calendaring, group scheduling, anti-virus and anti-spam capabilities. It works with a Web-browser client or integrates with Microsoft Outlook. The M50 is intended to simplify the infrastructure that companies need to construct and manage to handle the hordes of e-mail they receive and the malicious attacks that e-mail invites. Mirapoint is aiming M50 at businesses with 100 to 500 users.

"What they are doing makes sense," says Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research. "The messaging needs of a small organization are almost as sophisticated as those of a large one but its [staff] resources are much less." A recent study by Osterman Research showed that the per-user messaging costs of SMBs can be 10 times those of large companies. "A box that is plug-and-play is going to be very appealing. You want something [that has] all the capabilities but needs less tinkering," Osterman says.

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Messaging vendor Mirapoint this month plans to begin shipping an appliance combining e-mail, management and security that is designed to help small and midsize businesses simplify their infrastructures and reduce costs.

The M50 Messaging Server includes an address book and calendaring, group scheduling, anti-virus and anti-spam capabilities. It works with a Web-browser client or integrates with Microsoft Outlook. The M50 is intended to simplify the infrastructure that companies need to construct and manage to handle the hordes of e-mail they receive and the malicious attacks that e-mail invites. Mirapoint is aiming M50 at businesses with 100 to 500 users.

"What they are doing makes sense," says Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research. "The messaging needs of a small organization are almost as sophisticated as those of a large one but its [staff] resources are much less." A recent study by Osterman Research showed that the per-user messaging costs of SMBs can be 10 times those of large companies. "A box that is plug-and-play is going to be very appealing. You want something [that has] all the capabilities but needs less tinkering," Osterman says.

The M50, which comes in a 1U form factor, combines e-mail and security with a built-in internal directory based on Mirapoint's stand-alone Directory Server. Users also can integrate the M50 with Microsoft's Active Directory. The appliance runs on a Unix-based proprietary operating system and supports both POP and IMAP.

The M50 has a set of policy-based controls, such as outbound and inbound filtering. Users can set policies, such as e-mail aging and storage, that are generated off the internal security functionality or through the mail store. Policies also can be set based on individual users, groups, locations, titles or specific roles.

The appliance features 53G bytes of space that can be expanded to 113G bytes and includes RAID and battery backup for the cache to prevent data loss during a power outage.

Mirapoint competes with CommuniGate, Gordano, Rockliffe, Scalix, IPSwitch and Sendmail.

"We think this is going to fit in the retail space or with the deskless workforce," says Craig Carpenter, director of corporate marketing and global channels at Mirapoint.

The M50 is available starting at $13,000. User licenses are sold in 100-user bundles.

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