Symantec, SMX Partner on Cloud-Based Email Security Platform

The SMX platform targets large international systems integration vendors and ISPs.

Cloud-based email security company SMX has signed a global agreement with Symantec, integrating Symantec's Brightmail software into the SMX anti-spam and antivirus cloud-based solution. The SMX platform targets large international systems integration vendors and ISPs looking for an anti-spam and antivirus service to offer under their own brand and local infrastructure.

SMX co-founder and CEO Jesse Ball said the collaboration is an exciting opportunity to deliver a cloud-based email security service that is deployed on a customer's own infrastructure-enabling their complete control and visibility, and enhancing their brand profile. "As an example, working with CMC, our market partner in India, we have just implemented such a solution for Times Group, India's largest media group," Ball said.

"Times Group uses the service under its own brand and runs in their own local data center, but is managed remotely by SMX. The SMX solution was up and running literally in days, tightly integrating an advanced billing and provisioning system," he explained. Times Group is using SMX to deliver inbound and outbound email filtering for its own staff as well as deploying the service to more than 1 million customers provided with hosted email by Times Group subsidiary Times Internet. David Dzienciol, vice president of small to medium-size business (SMB) and channels for Asia Pacific and Japan for Symantec, said the demand for partners to offer cloud-based services is growing at a rapid pace.

"Symantec is focused on providing its partners with superior value, market-leading technologies and sustainable revenue opportunities to help meet this demand," he said. "The SMX partnership demonstrates how partners can leverage Symantec's technology to deliver innovative new cloud-based services offered by international system integrators and ISPs."

SMX was launched in February 2006 by co-founders Ball and Thom Hooker. The company leverages a global network of market partners to offer the ability to locally deploy infrastructure. This ensures email is not routed offshore; instead, it is filtered in the customer's own country under local law and jurisdiction.
Another differentiator is that the SMX portal can be "white labeled," allowing large telecom, IT services companies and ISPs to incorporate and control the service under their own brand.

The company's software as a service (SaaS) provisioning, billing and management stack provides customers with services needed to implement and onsell a sophisticated email security service under their own brand, using their own infrastructure, while providing third-party application integration for additional services.