New software and services are in the pipeline that promise to help e-mail administrators get a better handle on their systems traffic management, security and remote access.
DYS Analytics Inc. will release Version 4.0 of its Email Control software for Lotus Domino at IBMs Lotusphere show later this month. The upgrade, which is used to manage Domino messaging services, features automated report distribution to designated individuals and expanded data collection options that help IT managers spot e-mail network performance problems faster.
“The way they reworked the report automation process, it looks like they made that process a lot simpler to do, rather than having to manually generate new reports,” said Gary Brueggemann, Lotus Notes administrator at Anixter International Inc., in Skokie, Ill.
Email Control 4.0 supports larger volumes of data and has more sophisticated charting options, sorting power and graphical reporting assistants, said DYS officials in Wellesley, Mass.
A new Service Level Agreement Wizard measures performance against SLA goals. Enhanced report design capabilities provide IT managers and business managers with information on network conditions.
Version 4.0 provides analysis to help administrators fine-tune their networks and plan and manage such initiatives as server consolidations, network mergers and domain consolidations. It can also be used for mail topology design and optimization; load balancing for better utilization of servers, bandwidth and storage; and e-mail traffic reduction programs.
Separately, GFI Software Ltd. is looking to answer another major issue for e-mail administrators with a new anti-virus service. The company, with U.S. headquarters in Cary, N.C., last week introduced its Email Security Testing Zone, which comprises two tests for detecting viruses in Microsoft Corp.s Outlook XP e-mail systems.
Though Outlook XPs default security settings prevent users from running executable attachments to e-mail messages, some attachments are disguised well enough to circumvent those protections, officials said. The tests simulate such attachments and enable administrators to check them against Outlook XP systems.
Both tests consist of an e-mail carrying an executable attachment in disguise. One contains a Microsoft Class ID file extension, while the other is based on a malformed HTML Application file extension.
Administrators can register for the tests at GFIs Web site. The tests are intended to demonstrate the value of GFIs Mail Essentials e-mail-checking gateway, which can be set to remove viruses, spam, dangerous attachments and offensive content from incoming messages.
In other messaging news, Gordano Ltd. this week will release Version 2.1 of its GL WebMail product, a Web mail client designed for providing remote access to corporate mail servers. New features in this version include support for importing Outlook, Notes and Netscape Mail address books. It also offers automatic vCard inclusion and decoding.