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Aug 21, 2007
Mindware and BoxSentry partner to deliver the first Arabic-enabled email authentication system ( Arabic version )

Mindware, a leading IT distributor in the Middle East, has announced its partnership with Singapore-based BoxSentry to deliver the first Arabic-enabled version of RealMail, a next generation email authentication technology that enables enterprises to counter a deluge of external and internal attacks to their network, including spam while ensuring delivery of genuine mails. The launch of RealMail, which was made at a press conference held today (August 21, 2007) at Crowne Plaza Hotel, is aimed at tapping into the burgeoning global security content management market that soared to USD 7 billion in 2006 and is estimated to continue growing to USD 10.5 billion in 2009, according to the latest IDC report.

Enterprises struggle to stay ahead of spam, spyware, phishing and other online attacks that can have serious impact on business performance such as theft of confidential information, reduction of bandwidth, decreased employee productivity and damage to corporate property among others. Statistics show that 80-90 per cent of mails being sent worldwide are spam or as much as 50 billion per day, while in the Middle East, IDC figures estimate that about three quarters of all corporate machines are infected with various forms of spyware.

Current email security solutions typically utilise English-based core logic and filtering, which make them less effective in protecting legitimate emails which contain non-English words and result in “false positives” or legitimate mails that are mistakenly blocked. According to a report by Opus One, some popular current solutions may cause as much as 0.85% false positives. This means that one in every 120 emails may be lost in transmission due to a classification error by a spam filter, and this rate can be higher when the language of the email is not only English.

As IT heightens security through blacklists and content filters, the chances of false positives also increases. RealMail utilises an innovative authentication-based logic instead of conventional filtering, which means that it authenticates legitimate mails instead of filtering suspect mails. The cutting-edge tool has been designed to handle over a dozen languages including those with non-Roman characters such as Arabic and further blocks unwanted mails at the ‘perimeter’ so that they do not consume the bandwidth and space of the network or mail server

Speaking during the conference, Manish Goel, CEO, BoxSentry, said, “The greatest challenge being posed to the viability of email as a communication medium is that current anti-spam tools using filtering cause ‘false positives’ or ‘email casualties’. Most current solutions are based on probability and unavoidably lead to rejection of genuine mails. RealMail’s new core logic is sender authentication based which analyses a sender’s reputation and looks for ‘positive evidence’ of known good senders. This is much less subjective than analyzing the emails content and enables RealMail to provide a truly multi-language based solution."

RealMail eliminates false positives, and users are assured that spam, viruses, worms, spy ware, phishing, and other security threats are removed while legitimate mails always reach their inbox. Further, users’ privacy is also completely protected as RealMail never looks into the email’s content, a factor that has been commended by government and financial services customers.

“This is a very important solution for the region particularly in the UAE, which ranks 46th among 108 countries and is number 1 in the Middle East as origin and recipient of online security attacks according to industry reports. In line with our commitment to our clients, we are working very closely with local security companies across the Middle East and are looking into forming strategic partnerships with channel partner, technology partners and others in order to bring this groundbreaking solution to the government and businesses sector,” added Goel.

Enterprises with existing security solutions can integrate RealMail as an additional layer of security into their system, making implementation simple and low risk. With this setup, RealMail can be utilized to deliver legitimate email traffic whilst their existing system can continue to provide regular email filtering. RealMail is also offered as a gateway appliance, which can be used by service providers to resell anti-spam services, and can be clustered together with other RealMail appliances for maximum performance, redundancy, and availability.

“RealMail is a revolutionary solution that not only eliminates previous challenges encountered with older security systems but also perfectly suits the demands of Arabic users. There are several anti-spam technologies in the market, but none have been able to ensure the elimination of false positives while providing localization. We are witnessing growing interest for the product among major corporations particularly in the aviation, telecom, and banking industries, and we expect to gain even bigger response in the coming months as we increase our marketing efforts and channels,” said Thierry Chamayou, Deputy General Manager, Mindware.

Mindware’s partnership with BoxSentry as the sole distributor of RealMail in the MENA region, adds to its extensive portfolio from global majors such as Microsoft, and Symantec, CA, and Business Objects. With 2006 earnings topping USD 190 million, Mindware has enjoyed excellent performance Saudi Arabia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and North Africa. The company has a track record of excellence in serving a large cross-section of the information technology community, being the first IT distributor in the Middle East to be awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification.

About Mindware
Mindware is the first IT distributor in the Middle East to attain ISO 9001:2000 certification and has enabled various organizations reach their business goals with state-of-the-art IT, networking and storage solutions. Having forged strategic partnerships with the world’s leading manufacturers, the Dubai-based firm is able to provide best-of-breed solutions to major regional markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and North Africa. With its keen focus on exceptional customer support, competitive pricing, value-added services and an expansive network of 4,500 distributors across the MENA region, the company has steadily increased its revenues, posting USD 190 million in earnings in 2006. For more extensive information on services and business partners, visit www.mindware.ae.