Peer-to-Peer

Iteamic deploys an anti-spam solution

The company has found the ideal solution tailored for its e-mail and Web requirements in IronPort’s Mail Gateway Appliance and Web Security Appliance, writes Nivedan Prakash

Bangalore-based Iteamic is a software services company servicing start-ups, small and mid-sized companies. Its primary service lines are product development and application management services for the Banking, Finance, Security and Insurance (BFSI) sector.

The company selected IronPort Systems’ Mail Gateway Appliance and Web Security Appliance for its e-mail and Web-based requirements. The implementation took place about three months back. The Web Security Appliance was first deployed followed by the Mail Gateway Appliance. There were not many phases except for a POC, and it took one day to deploy the final appliance. Iteamic invested around $15,000 for this deployment.

Mountains of spam

Over the past year, the IT systems team at Iteamic had faced the overwhelming task of sorting through several thousand e-mail messages every week to separate the company’s and its clients’ e-mail from spam. The Web software applications employed by Iteamic had proved to be ineffective in filtering spam and other online threats.

Rajiv Dodderi, IT Systems Manager, Iteamic, said, “Nearly 80% of all e-mail received till December 2006 was spam. Our existing solution for e-mail gateway was a software solution, which was ineffective in preventing the latest spam-based threats.”

Apart from company mailboxes getting cluttered with spam, internal network bandwidth was significantly affected because the e-mail gateway solution also worked on a concept wherein e-mail would enter the network and then the software engine would go about its task of quarantining it, which was eating into the bandwidth available.

Niyogi Krishnappa, Co-founder and VP-Projects, Iteamic, said, “Although most of the e-mail sent is internal, we have to communicate with our offices in San Francisco and New York. We also receive mail from our clients and frequently need to e-mail them large documents. With a low bandwidth ratio, we were unable to communicate seamlessly and this impacted our business. Since e-mail is the main form of communication, our overseas clients were growing dissatisfied as documents would not reach them on time, etc.”

Since the day the company commenced its operations in Bangalore, it has used several e-mail and Web security software systems from well-known vendors. However, the effectiveness of spam filtering was unsatisfactory. It was also noticed that the spammers were becoming smarter and were able to bypass the existing detection software. The speed at which the software could be updated in response to online threats was poor.

As the existing Web filtering solution did not meet all the needs of Iteamic, apart from the problem of not being able to integrate well with its firewall and network, the company grew increasingly concerned and began seeking a more efficient e-mail and Web solution.

Ambarish Desphande, Regional Director of India and SAARC, IronPort Systems, said, “Though spam filters are able to block a large percentage of mail that are recognized as ‘obvious spam’, the real challenge is to create a software that can constantly be updated to protect users from new IT threats in real-time.”

Dodderi pointed out, “We did consider other appliances, vendors and alternative solutions in the market, but our research pointed towards IronPort. A successful Proof of Concept (POC) triggered the purchase.”

Notable benefits

By deploying IronPort’s Mail Gateway and Web Security Appliance, Iteamic has benefited from a significant improvement in Web traffic between its offices and clients. The company has also seen a tremendous drop in the amount of spam reaching its network.

“A report is generated every week distinguishing spam and genuine e-mail. The filtration processes are extremely satisfactory,” added Krishnappa.

The IT team at Iteamic has seen a decline in spam—from 80 to 1-2%. Accidental deletion of legitimate e-mails (along with spam messages), has also stopped.

“Apart from basic systems checks, we now spend little time checking our network for spam or being concerned about real-time threats and hacking activities. IronPort updates our software and informs us about any new threats that have emerged,” stated Dodderi.

The company’s bandwidth is now functioning at an optimum capacity, as the IronPort gateway blocks the spam before it can enter the network. “I am also able to monitor the network usage by all our employees and receive an alert if any unwarranted sites are being accessed or if any spam is being circulated,” said Krishnappa. Thus, the firm has been able to improve its productivity and is looking at expanding its current operations shortly.

The company has been able to secure data from being stolen and has faced no system security breach till date. Besides, the IronPort proxy has also been working towards the company’s satisfaction and Iteamic is especially happy about the L4 monitoring functionality, which blocks malware.

Lastly, the Web solution helps block online threats such as malware and spyware at the gateway, which means malicious software that previously affected various workstations in the company’s offices, has been blocked completely.

“The SMB sector in particular is very susceptible to online threats. We are glad that we have been able to provide Iteamic with a solution that has helped reduce their spam volume,” concludes Deshpande with evident pride.

nivedan.prakash@expressindia.com