MessageLabs Adds Anti-Spam Solution to Its SkyScan Offerings; SkyScan AS Helps Increase Business Productivity By Intercepting the 10% of Emails That Are Unsolicited Spam

Business Wire, Nov 5, 2001

Business & Technology Editors

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2001

Highlights:

- MessageLabs, provider of 100 % guarantee against infection from email-borne
viruses, adds anti-spam (SkyScan AS) solution to its offerings

- SkyScan AS compares all incoming mail against public blacklists as well as
blacklists configured by the customer

MessageLabs, the email security company, today launched SkyScan AS, a new service designed to combat the problem of spam in the workplace.

Like the company's proprietary SkyScan AV solution, SkyScan AS intercepts offending emails at the Internet level, long before they reach customers' networks. With analysts predicting that U.S. inboxes alone will receive more than 62 billion spam emails this year(a), the new service is an integral component of an overall strategy to stop emails that use up bandwidth and waste valuable human resources.

"Ever-increasing amounts of spam are putting incredible pressure on email systems in the workplace, as well as impacting employee productivity," said Andy Faris, president, Americas, MessageLabs. "With the recent scares regarding tainted mail and many citizens fearful of letters from unidentified senders, one of the results may be that direct marketers are driven to using email, which will very likely result in a spike in spam numbers. It's MessageLabs' objective to protect our customers from this email abuse before it spirals even further out of control."

SkyScan AS stops unsolicited e-mail (spam) from entering a business's network by checking all incoming mail against recognized public blacklists like ORBS and MAPS RBL, which detail e-mail addresses for known spam offenders. In addition, customers can create blacklists and whitelists featuring up to 50 email addresses. As the names indicate, all emails from blacklisted addresses are to be intercepted, and all from whitelisted addresses are to be passed through to the recipient.

The new service is an integral part of MessageLabs' ongoing development of a total, end-to-end, email security solution under the SkyScan brand. The technology is delivered as a managed service at the Internet level through MessageLabs' existing global network of Control Towers, allowing for immediate identification of spam, followed by blocking, tagging or redirecting of the offending emails.

MessageLabs recently launched in the U.S. market and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN. The company's enterprise customers include such high-profile companies as Air Products and Chemicals, Fujitsu, Rentokil and Vodafone.

Today, the company also announced its SkyScan AP (anti-porn) solution, designed to protect businesses from emails containing pornographic images. The company is providing potential customers with a risk-free 30-day trial.

About MessageLabs

MessageLabs is a leading Managed Services Provider (MSP) specializing in Internet level managed e-mail security services. Its revolutionary SkyScan portfolio of services enables customers to be protected from threats such as viruses, unsolicited mail, malicious and sensitive content, and pornography, which are all intercepted before they reach the customers' network boundaries. MessageLabs currently extends to the UK, Benelux, Germany, U.S. and Hong Kong where its service has proven to be the most advanced of its kind, and by being the first company to intercept the infamous 'Love Bug' virus. MessageLabs works with some of the world's largest Service Providers including BT, UUNET, KPN, and Cable and Wireless and enterprise customers include Air Products and Chemicals, Fujitsu, Rentokil, Vodafone, and the Bank of England. MessageLabs is part of the Star Technology Group, with over 350 employees across the globe, and was established in January 2000. In October 2000, the Group received a $40 million in funding from leading U.S. investment firms Madison Dearborn Partners and Catalyst Investors.

For further information, go to www.messagelabs.com, or call 1-877-324-4913

(a) eMarketer Inc., 2000