Sunday 16 October 2011

Google Postini Scans Spam


Google Postini Scans Spam


The Postini company actually scanned Spam for spam; that is it provided anti-spam filters for Hormel Foods the manufacturers of the meat product Spam along with 4200 other companies and 6 million individuals. The company first came to life in California in 1999 and within 6 years was responsible for scanning in excess of over 2.5 billion emails weekly; it was no wonder Google decided to acquire it in mid 2007 at a cost of $625 million.
Spam as most of us know is the irritant that ends up in your email inbox as an uninvited guest; spam is just one of those irritants delivered in this way along with malware, phishing and viruses. Probably the most common forms of spam are those emails purporting to be a Nigerian person who has acquired millions of dollars and needs a reliable source to help them remove it from the country and of course the good old Viagra and penis enlargement tablets. Yes and incredible as it may seem people have actually fallen for them.
Obviously the frequency and quantities of these un-requested offers caused a big enough problem to make it financially viable for companies like Postini to address the issue and sell their solutions.
Google is one of the companies responsible for running Cloud Computing Services, known as 'Google Apps', and is probably one of the few companies that offer a true Cloud Computing service that is 100% 'cloud'.
Cloud Computing is a service whereby you keep all your software, applications, folders and files on a remote server saving you the need to run your own servers and IT services.
In order to protect a Cloud Computer Service and its clients from spam and other attacks you need a first rate web security system; Google recognising this acquired one of the best in the business in order to protect themselves and their clients. The Google Postini web security and archiving service sits neatly within their cloud and adds value to their overall services; allowing them to be internet compliant from their own use and removing spam and malware before it arrives at customer's mail boxes.
The use of Postini saves your business having to run expensive IT departments where a considerable amount of staff time can be spent stopping and dealing with both real and perceived threats from spam, malware and viruses; in addition to this downtime is practically eliminated and if it does happen it is not your responsibility to worry about getting back online again.
The Google Postini service provides message security including the basic network protection against uninvited guests, usage policies to help you comply with legislation and best practice and encryption benefiting from both SSL and TSL.
It also provides message discovery with accelerated search ability to recover lost emails, storing them for as long as needed.
Message continuity is also provided with access to your account even if your server is down. The Gmail account is synchronised automatically and comes with a massive 25 gigs of storage.
With Google Postini there is no software to be installed, upgraded or repaired as all of these sit within the cloud; you do not need the installation of extra hardware other than an internet connection.
If you are considering sticking your toe, or head, into cloud computing then look no further than a Google Apps package, it will ensure you lower IT costs, in addition to a great web security system with a first class track record to protect your work at a small percentage of the running costs you will pay for your own IT solutions.
For more information about Postini, visit Ancoris who are are an authorised Google Apps Reseller offering Google Apps Training and much more.

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