Internode's just-launched Business Mail Filter service provides spam and virus protection for business customers that operate their own email servers. Using the IronPort spam and virus filter system, Internode has based the new service on its internal email protection system.

Costing from $25 a month, the Business Mail Filter is aimed at small to medium-sized businesses that run their own mail servers but cannot justify purchasing an industrial-strength spam filter. Benefits of the Internode Business Mail Filter service include:

• Reduced downloads by rejecting unwanted email before it reaches your server
• Reduced costs and time by eliminating the need for spam and virus filters on your email server
• Increased productivity by freeing employees from having to sort through unwanted spam email
• Improved security by minimising the risk of viruses attached to email.

Internode product manager Jim Kellett said the Business Mail Filter service delivered an immediate payback to business. "If you place any value on your time, you will redeem the monthly cost of this service within a day or two of using it," he said.

"The beauty of this system is that Internode has roadtested it to meet its own needs, so we know first hand that it works. Significantly, it's backed by IronPort's 24x7 operation centres which filter nearly 25 per cent of the world's email. As well as tracking the latest trends in spam and virus intrusion, it maintains a database of how filtered mail servers are performing, so there's a great feedback cycle."

Internode has deployed a high availability cluster of class-leading IronPort Email Security Appliances; featuring highly accurate and 24x7 responsive anti-spam technology, combined with rapid-response Sophos anti-virus technology.

All the customer's incoming email is filtered through Internode's servers, then sent to the customer mail server. The Internode filtering cluster uses a range of technologies to achieve the highest levels of filtering. The first stage is a black list of known spammers, at which point definite spam is dropped. The second stage is provided by the IronPort platform, at which point you can choose - on a per email address basis - to have suspect spam either dropped, or tagged for further analysis.

As threat writers use constantly evolving techniques to penetrate companies' existing defences, email threats have expanded beyond simple nuisance spam. IronPort Anti-Spam™ combines best-of-breed conventional techniques with IronPort's breakthrough context-sensitive detection technology, to eliminate the broadest range of known and emerging email threats.

The simple pricing structure for the Business Mail Filter has a once-off $50 establishment fee, with a monthly charge of $25 per service plus $1 per email address (including GST). One service is required per domain filtered name. The service is available only to Internode Internet customers.

Please contact Internode Business Sales on 13 6633 or email business-sales@internode.com.au for more information.