GOVERNMENT

Crossbeam Systems and Sophos have announced a strategic partnership that delivers high-performance email security to large enterprises and service providers. Crossbeam's X-Series platform customers now have the ability to run Sophos's email security gateway software, Sophos PureMessage, to proactively protect users against the growing volume and sophistication of spam, malware, phishing, and other email-borne threats.

Sophos joins a list of leading security vendors whose software is certified to run on the X-Series, including Check Point, IBM, Imperva, Sourcefire, Trend Micro, and Websense.

"In 2010, businesses will have to improve their defenses by improving outbound spam detection and email throttling policy options, as well as improving effectiveness against highly targeted phishing attacks," said Peter Firstbrook, research director, Gartner, in the recent research note, "A Buyers Guide to Secure E-Mail Gateways."

Crossbeam X-Series Powered by Sophos PureMessage Delivers:

• Carrier-class, high-availability infrastructure that service providers require to deliver scalable and cost-effective cloud-based email security services to their customers.
• A high-performance, scalable solution that large enterprises need to manage the ever-growing volumes of inbound, outbound, and internal email messages, proactively protecting against email-borne threats.
• The ability to easily deploy Sophos PureMessage along with other industry-recognized security software within a highly consolidated and virtualized security architecture.
• The flexibility, management, and control required to meet increasing compliance regulations and enforcement of internal mandates for email policies.

"Crossbeam has a proven track record for delivering high-end security virtualization platforms that give large customers the best of both worlds - solid adaptable software and hardware platforms and the ability to select their preferred security technologies that are most suited for their requirements, environment, and future plans," said Steve Munford, CEO at Sophos. "By certifying and delivering Sophos PureMessage on Crossbeam's X-Series, we're further extending our reach into these key market segments with an experienced and trusted partner."

Crossbeam's X-Series platform virtualizes the delivery of some of the industry's most recognized security applications, enabling customers to consolidate up to 50 security appliances and network devices onto a single, carrier-class chassis. The X-Series delivers high-performance, low-latency security at the industry's lowest total cost to operate-up to 70 percent lower than competitors-and provides the scalability, adaptability, and built-in redundancy to reliably manage traffic as security and network demands change. More than 900 leading enterprises and service providers-including 10 of the top 11 carriers worldwide—rely on Crossbeam for security services delivery.

Scanning all inbound, outbound, and internal email, Sophos PureMessage blocks more than 97 percent of spam at the connection level with Sender Genotype Technology and defends companies from the latest malicious Web-based attacks with Live Anti-Spam real-time updates. Sophos's email security also guards against targeted malware threats with Sophos's unique real-time Behavioral Genotype. All proactive intelligence within Sophos PureMessage is backed by SophosLabs - a fully integrated global network of Labs that have blended expertise and visibility of malware, spam, and Web-based infections.

"Sophos is an important addition to Crossbeam's portfolio of best-of-breed security partners," said Michael Ruffolo, president and CEO of Crossbeam. "The challenge of managing a growing volume of messages while protecting users is increasingly difficult, particularly in complex, latency-sensitive network environments. Now our joint customers can leverage all the management, cost-savings, and performance benefits of the X-Series platform to deploy a best-in-class solution for stopping spam, phishing, malware, and data loss."