Enhanced SMTP Implementation Will Enable Partners to Deliver Solutions To
Further Protect Customer E-Mail Infrastructures
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today in his keynote
address at the RSA Conference 2004, Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) Chairman
and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates announced that the company will
deliver Microsoft(R) Exchange Edge Services, an enhancement to the Simple Mail
Transfer Protocol (SMTP) relay implementation in Exchange Server, part of the
Windows Server System(TM). With Exchange Edge Services, Microsoft will provide
a new set of capabilities aimed at enabling customers to better protect their
e-mail system from junk e-mail and viruses as well as improve the efficiency
of handling and routing Internet e-mail traffic.
(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )
"The viability of the e-mail system as we know it is threatened by the
constant deluge of information -- both wanted and unwanted -- that companies
receive daily and hourly. We are striving to provide customers with the means
to meet this challenge head on and preserve the integrity and productivity of
their organization," said Paul Flessner, senior vice president of the Server
Platform Division at Microsoft. "Exchange Edge Services will be a
comprehensive way for customers to better protect their Exchange e-mail
infrastructure and improve the efficiency of the handling of the tremendous
amounts of incoming and outgoing e-mail traffic."
Exchange Edge Services will perform three major functions critical to
overall e-mail protection, security and hygiene. As an SMTP relay, it will
serve as an e-mail gatekeeper, for enhanced security and reliability when
relaying e-mail to and from the Internet. It also will provide a variety of
methods, built on the foundation already laid in Exchange Server 2003, to help
block junk e-mail, and an extensibility infrastructure that industry partners
can use to build and run anti-spam and anti-virus solutions. In addition, it
will apply basic routing server rules, from relaying and address rewriting to
format conversion, and provide the basic engine to allow an administrator to
build custom rules.
One of the biggest challenges of the new millennium is the control and
management of e-mail and its content. This new implementation of Exchange Edge
Services helps address mission-critical concerns customers have about e-mail
protection, security and hygiene. By taking advantage of the Windows(R)
networking infrastructure, Exchange Edge Services will provide customers with
a number of different deployment and configuration options, including the
option to take advantage of the Active Directory(R) directory service and
Internet Information Services.
"Many organizations today are running outdated legacy SMTP relay
implementations," said Matt Cain, senior vice president at META Group Inc. "To
ensure business continuity for e-mail services, we are strongly counseling
clients to upgrade their mail relay infrastructures."
Industry Support
Exchange Edge Services gives industry partners a solid, extensible
infrastructure to use to deliver innovative and robust solutions that help
address customer needs for improved e-mail security and hygiene at the network
boundary. Exchange Edge Services will provide a new way to extend the Windows-
based infrastructure and can serve as an alternative to the complicated legacy
systems used to protect the e-mail perimeter today.
With Exchange Edge Services, priority has been given to enabling greater
control and flexibility over incoming and outgoing SMTP data, allowing
industry partners to build solutions with anti-spam, anti-virus, secured
messaging and content management capabilities. Partners will be able to build
solutions that scan for viruses and help manage content security as well as
support legacy Microsoft platforms and non-Microsoft operating systems. For
partners with service offerings, Exchange Edge Services will provide another
tool to deploy as part of a larger security solution.
Already partners such as Brightmail Inc., GFI Software Ltd., Network
Associates Technology Inc., Panda Software, Sybari Software Inc., Symantec
Corp. and Trend Micro Inc. have expressed excitement around this new software
and intend to deliver solutions that further extend the capabilities of
Exchange Edge Services.
A Comprehensive Solution
Although it is critically important to provide a solution that offers
protection at the client level, server level and the perimeter, Microsoft's
philosophy is to block viruses and junk e-mail at the perimeter of the
network, before they reach the end user and become harmful or distracting.
Exchange Edge Services builds on the improvements in Exchange Server 2003 and
the announcement of the Intelligent Message Filter.
Exchange Edge Services will include an intelligent, adaptive spam-filter
and will feature the first implementation of the proposed Caller ID for E-Mail
specification, which will help prevent domain spoofing and increase
effectiveness of spam filters by verifying the original domain of a sent
message. The filter will be the next evolution of the Intelligent Message
Filter, built on SmartScreen Technology, which performs heuristics-based
analysis to determine whether a message is junk e-mail.
Together with Microsoft Office Outlook(R) 2003, Exchange 2003 helps block
both malicious content and junk e-mail at the gateway and client levels,
thereby helping put control of the inbox back into the hands of users. Support
for safe and blocked senders lists, domain spoofing prevention, and a range of
other spam-blocking and spam-filtering techniques built into the core Exchange
2003 product allows IT administrators to focus on maintaining a healthy
network, thereby helping keep end users more productive. Exchange 2003 also
was designed to better integrate with third-party products. The updated
virus-scanning API (VSAPI version 2.5) and junk e-mail filter spam confidence
level (SCL) rating property enable partners to deliver more-integrated and
more-effective solutions. In addition, the Exchange version of the recently
announced Intelligent Message Filter will be released in the coming months,
enabling Exchange 2003 customers to further protect messaging systems.
More information about Exchange Edge Services can be found at
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/security/edgeservices.asp .
About Exchange Server 2003
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 works with Windows Server(TM) 2003 and
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 to deliver best-in-class e-mail-based
collaboration services that are highly secure, reliable and easy to access,
enabling businesses to make decisions efficiently and compete more
effectively. Exchange Server 2003 is part of the Windows Server System,
Microsoft's comprehensive, integrated and interoperable server infrastructure
that simplifies the development, deployment and operation of agile business
solutions. Exchange Server 2003 is also a key component in enabling
information worker scenarios as part of the Office System. More information on
Exchange Server can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/ .
About Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System is an integrated and interoperable server
infrastructure that reduces IT complexity to enable IT professionals to
deliver innovative solutions that meet the changing needs of business. With
Windows Server 2003 at the foundation, Windows Server System is engineered
from the ground up for XML Web services based on Microsoft .NET technologies
to connect information, people, systems and devices. Based on a common
software architecture that spans all facets of IT, from design, development
and deployment through ongoing management and usage, Windows Server System
provides comprehensive IT infrastructure for operations (security, systems
management, networked storage), applications (data management and analysis,
e-business) and information work (messaging, communications and
collaboration). More information on Microsoft Windows Server System can be
found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services
and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company
offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people
through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.
NOTE: Microsoft, Windows Server System, Windows, Active Directory,
Outlook and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.
Partner Quote Sheet
"As the spam problem grows, customers are looking for greater protection
at the perimeter, where e-mail and spam enters the messaging network.
Brightmail and Microsoft have been collaborating on anti-spam protection on
Exchange 2003 for more than a year now, and we are excited to continue the
relationship around Exchange's new initiatives. Microsoft's new Exchange Edge
Services, in conjunction with Brightmail's award-winning software, will
provide a powerful spam defense for Exchange customers."
-- Enrique Salem
President and CEO
Brightmail
"Microsoft Exchange Server perimeter services is an interesting concept.
We see plenty of opportunity for us to develop additional security technology
on top of this platform, including offering multiple virus engine capability,
HTML and exploit checking, and our patented Trojan & Executable Scanner, which
can detect malicious executables without signature updates."
-- Nick Galea
CEO
GFI
"As threats from viruses, spam, inappropriate content and other malicious
code attacks continue to plague businesses with increasing security problems,
the need for secure content management has become more important than ever.
Network Associates supports Microsoft's commitment to security, and intends to
support Microsoft Edge Services with leading security technologies that will
offer its customers the most comprehensive security available."
-- Robin Matlock
Vice President of Marketing for
McAfee System Protection
Solutions Group
Network Associates
"As a Microsoft partner we are genuinely excited about offering security
support for Exchange Edge Services. We feel that it will be a landmark in
e-mail management and security, and Panda Software is proud to support this by
providing advanced technology in virus and intrusion prevention through its
corporate solutions. Exchange Edge Services offers Microsoft partners like
Panda Software a solid structure on which they can develop innovative and
robust solutions to provide the best protection against Internet threats at
the network perimeter."
-- Pedro Bustamante
Marketing Division Director
Panda Software
"Since inception, Sybari has supported Microsoft's security initiatives
and their efforts in adding functional enhancements to Exchange Server. With
the company's upcoming Exchange Edge Services, Microsoft customers using
Sybari solutions will have an added level of protection from viruses and spam.
Building on the expertise Sybari development has gained working the current
SMTP event sink model, we will continue to support Microsoft platforms and
users by delivering advanced security solutions."
-- Tom Buoniello
Vice President of Product
Management
Sybari Software
"Symantec is dedicated to providing security solutions such as virus
protection and spam prevention for existing and emerging enterprise messaging
infrastructures. We welcome Microsoft's efforts to offer an extensible
infrastructure enabling industry partners like Symantec to provide enterprise
customers with protection against malicious threats, spam and other unwanted
e-mail."
-- Greg Gotta
Vice President, Gateway and
Network Security
Symantec
"For many years, Trend Micro has been a proponent of security technologies
at the gateway, and see this kind of dedication and support from platform
developers as a sign that we are all moving toward a more tightly integrated
security model. Trend Micro looks forward to continuing our close working
relationship with Microsoft to ensure the effective integration of our
companies' products."
-- Richard Ku
Global Product Group Manager
for Messaging Security
Trend Micro
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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http://www.microsoft.com
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NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
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