Industry Veterans Launch New Company to Tackle Junk E-Mail; AvantGo Founders Launch Qurb Inc

Business Wire, March 3, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 2003

AvantGo founders Felix Lin, Linus Upson and Dave Moore today launched their newest endeavor, Qurb, Inc., a provider of unique software solutions to combat junk e-mail. This announcement coincides with the immediate availability of Qurb(R), downloadable software for Microsoft Outlook. Founded in 2002, Qurb (pronounced "curb") has developed the most easy-to-use, easy-to-understand and effective solution enabling individuals to take back control of their e-mail Inboxes.

According to industry research, nearly half of a typical user's Inbox will be spam by 2005. With complaints on the rise that spam is already overwhelming Inboxes, companies need to begin planning and implementing anti-spam technology sooner rather than later.

Qurb's software combats junk e-mail for anyone using Microsoft Outlook or Exchange. The product aggressively compiles and transparently manages a list of Approved Senders. Mail from Approved Senders is delivered directly to the Inbox; all other messages are quarantined for later review, thereby helping to prioritize e-mail, improve personal productivity and reduce communication costs.

Sophia Chiang, VP of Marketing at Timogen and an early Qurb customer explained, "I was getting more than 50 unsolicited e-mail messages every single day and it just seemed to be getting worse. Qurb kept junk out of my Inbox and gave me back my workday by only alerting me of new mail when I received messages from people I know."

"The single greatest weapon available for dealing with telemarketers has proven to be caller-ID," explained Felix Lin, CEO and founder of Qurb. "Our anti-spam solution uses the same approach to deal with the spammers who are sending unwanted messages to people they don't know."

One Person's Junk is Another Person's Treasure

The challenge facing most anti-spam measures today is correctly distinguishing spam from one person to the next. Anti-spam measures that analyze the content of e-mail messages to decide whether they are junk or not are prone to mistakes because one person's 'junk' may very well be another's 'treasure.'

Ironically, the anti-spam content filters being used to solve the problem are creating an even bigger problem by blocking legitimate communication. Media companies, industry analysts and financial services firms today increasingly rely on e-mail to deliver information to their clients and customers who opt-in to receive targeted information. Unfortunately, content filters can be confused by financial news, product reviews and other research reports that share similarities with junk e-mail, often preventing the delivery of important information that clients and customers have paid to receive.

Qurb sidesteps the problem by screening the senders of messages against each individual's personal list of Approved Senders. Qurb's approach places a high priority on messages received from Approved Senders and provides an efficient way to review and process messages from unknown senders, if and when it's convenient.

Founders Find a New Cause

Felix Lin, Linus Upson and Dave Moore were three of the original founders of AvantGo, Inc. As the CEO, CTO and VP of Engineering, they grew AvantGo from a start-up to a publicly traded company with eight million registered users of its content delivery application for mobile devices worldwide.

Qurb recognized that creating easy-to-use, easy-to-understand anti-spam solutions that typical e-mail users could effectively deploy would be critical to winning the war against junk e-mail. Complex anti-spam products might eliminate 100% of the junk messages for a small percentage of the population, but they leave open a large opportunity for spammers when people generally can't effectively configure the products.

"Think globally, act locally is an important approach to addressing the growing problem of spam," said Mark Levitt, VP for Collaborative Computing at IDC. "Qurb is a tool that can help Microsoft Outlook users deal more efficiently with e-mail that reaches their Inboxes to complement the work IT departments and Internet service providers are doing to scan messages for spam at the server and network level."

Product Features and Benefits

Qurb integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook to block junk e-mail. Product features and benefits include:

-- Protects the Inbox, allowing mail only from Approved Senders

-- Redirects all mail from unknown senders to a 'quarantine' folder without triggering new message notifications, preventing spam from interrupting work

-- Automatically compiles and manages a list of Approved Senders

-- Optionally attempts to free quarantined messages from legitimate senders using automated sender confirmation requests

-- Works seamlessly behind corporate firewalls

-- Works with Microsoft Exchange and POP3 mail accounts

-- Automatic product updates keep the software current with the latest features for fighting junk e-mail.

Pricing and Availability

Qurb is available immediately. A free trial of the product can be downloaded from the web site at Qurb.com. Pricing for individuals begins at $24.95. For additional pricing and information about software features and updates, visit the web site. For information about enterprise pricing and OEM licenses, send e-mail to sales@Qurb.com or call 650/286-4287.