Powered by industry-leading MessageLabs technology, the IBM Express Portfolio solution is designed to act as a first line of defence, scanning e-mail and eliminating threats before they reach the network.

This IBM managed service is designed to offer better protection and faster response to emerging threats than can be achieved in-house - at a much lower cost. The service gives an organisation the flexibility to choose only the security components needed. The four modular options include anti-virus, anti-spam, pornography filtering and content control.

Eliminating viruses: Unlike desktop virus software, the anti-virus service option cleans e-mail of viruses before it reaches your network, helping to protect infrastructure and employees against the downtime caused by virus infections.

The anti-virus service harnesses multiple virus scanners as well as Skeptic, MessageLabs' patented predictive technology, to detect and stop all viruses entering and leaving your organisation. The service is designed to identify new viruses, both known and unknown, without any need for signature updates - even during critical "zero hour" outbreaks. If a virus is detected, the e-mail is automatically stopped and held in quarantine for 30 days.

Reducing spam: The anti-spam service combines MessageLabs Skeptic predictive technology with Symantec Brightmail's signature technology, as well as your fully customisable sender lists, to stop nearly all spam - known and unknown - with a very low false positive rate. Spam is identified and rerouted before it reaches your network, and you can specify how intercepted spam should be handled - so employees can focus on other tasks. Plus, spam is quarantined outside your network, alleviating bandwidth issues and significantly reducing the demands made on valuable storage space.

Filtering images: This image control solution combines multiple techniques - including the Skeptic technology's groundbreaking image composition analysis - to detect and control pornographic images. The service allows for different sensitivity settings and routing options depending on your acceptable use policies, and can identify pornography entering and leaving your organisation.

Controlling content: Applying a combination of advanced technology and configurable usage rules, the content control option enables you to identify and control confidential, malicious or inappropriate content sent or received by your organisation. You can build your own rules to govern the filtering of inbound and outbound e-mail. The service can help manage the flow of information to meet the growing need to comply with federal regulations, as well as offering protection against the loss of hard-earned brand equity and enforcement of your acceptable usage policies.

November 2005

IBM e-mail security service is competitively priced because there's no infrastructure to buy and set up, avoiding upfront capital expense and fast implementation. The service features subscription pricing on a per-user basis, and users pay only for the options selected.

As needs grow, additional resources can be applied within 24 hours. Ongoing management is provided by IBM so users will be able to focus resources on core business priorities while limiting business risks.