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VA Linux Releases 'SMTPGuard' Anti-SPAM Open Source Software

JCN Newswires, Nov 8, 2005

Tokyo, Japan, Nov 8, 2005 - (JCN Newswire) - VA Linux Systems Japan K.K. (VA Linux), a leading provider of Linux solutions for the telecommunications and enterprise systems markets, today announced the release of 'SMTPGuard', an Open Source, anti-SPAM software for MTAs, which can eliminate unsolicited e-mails (SPAM) flexibly. SMTPGuard is a part of 'VA FMS', VA Linux's total messaging solution. VA FMS is based on Open Source Software and known for its high reliability, high availability, high performance, and extensibility, which enable VA FMS to support large networks with over 100 million accounts.

SMTPGuard is a new anti-SPAM software running on SMTP servers. SMTPGuard collects information acquired in SMTP sessions such as IP addresses, MAIL FROMs, RCPT TOs or their patterns and the number of times of appearance. SMTPGuard then calculates weight points based on user- designated set of rules, and tells MTAs to perform appropriate actions such as denying mails, delaying answering sessions, sending warning e- mails to the administrators and so on. With SMTPGuard, even if SMTP servers are drowned in a flood of SPAM mails even including virus mails, the administrators can control the incoming stream by limiting acceptance of mails sent by specific IP addresses or senders so that the mail system can operate stably. Weight points and actions in response to them can be set by users and highly customizable.

SMTPGuard has already been used on mail systems for Japanese ISPs with over 100 million accounts, and highly acclaimed by their users as an outstanding anti-SPAM solution. SMTPGuard would be suitable for any enterprises or network service providers which run large mail servers.

SMTPGuard is released on the FlexGuard Project page at SourceForge.net

(http://sourceforge.net/projects/flexguard/). The source code, binary package and documents can be obtained from that page. Also, VA Linux has already done ITP (Intent To Package) and committed the SMTPGuard package to Debian GNU/Linux, thus Debianized SMTPGuard package will be available from the official Debian archive within weeks.

VA Linux expects many feedbacks by releasing its source code to the public, which make SMTPGuard more stable and reliable.

"The release of SMTPGuard as an OSS this time is basically a sequel to the release of FlexPOP in June, 2005." said Tetsuya Ueda, President and CEO of VA Linux in Tokyo. "However, VA Linux has been opening up not only them but also other components which compose VA FMS. VA Linux's technological excellence and the firm roots on Open Source will bring more reliable Open Source-based solution to our customers."

* FlexGuard Project:

http://flexguard.sourceforge.net/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/flexguard

About VA FMS

VA FMS is an Open Source-based total messaging solution designed to provide flexible mail solution to a multitude of organizations, all the way from medium-

sized (such as with tens of thousands accounts) up to large-scale (such as with

over 100 million accounts) network service providers. VA FMS is built on a fine

array of Open Source Software combinations (MTA, POP, IMAP, anti-SPAM measures

and so on) and all of them are skillfully improved and tuned by VA Linux to

supplement missing features and more robustness.

VA FMS consists of 'FlexMail', a Postfix-based high-performance mail transfer agent improved by VA Linux, 'FlexPOP', the original POP server which supports Maildir style, 'FlexIMAP', a Courier-IMAP based IMAP server especially tuned for large-scale mail system, and the original SPAM filtering solution for MTA called

'FlexGuard', which is capable of excluding SPAM mails effectively. These components may fully utilize VA Linux's other solutions such as the load-balancing solution 'VA Balance', the LDAP directory server solution 'VA Directory', and the core OS 'VA Core'. Since VA Linux provides the whole mail system from OS to application, customers can expect rich, source code level (including Linux kernel) technical support by VA Linux's able experts.

Also, VA FMS adopts a modular architecture, which means each function for mail systems (MTA / IMAP / POP / LDAP / NFS and so on) are divided into independent modules and distributed. This architecture promises configuration flexibility --

for example, just adding servers or disks is well enough to improve the system performance as a whole. This level of modularity makes it easier to cope with large-scale / high-traffic requests from our demanding customers. Also, all components which comprise of VA FMS are designed to make full use of completely replicated servers on which it works, therefore high-reliability and stability are guaranteed. Besides, various code improvements and additions for the carrier / enterprise grade help to accomplish robustness and high- performance.

* VA FMS product page: http://www.valinux.co.jp/en/products/fms/