SUNNYVALE, Ca. – E-mail security and data leak prevention vendor Proofpoint has released a version of its on-demand service for small- and medium-sized businesses.

Proofpoint on Demand — Standard Edition uses the same anti-spam and anti-virus applications found in the Enterprise Edition that was launched last summer, but the configuration has been simplified to take into account SMBs’ typical lack of an on-staff IT person. Additionally, some of the more enterprise-centric features have been removed, including encryption and some of the more advanced modules Proofpoint offers.

“We’ve simplified the activation process, so for customers who want to sign up, it’s very, very quick and easy. There’s a lot fewer configuration settings they need to deal with up front,” said Andrew Lochart, vice president of product marketing at Proofpoint.

Proofpoint makes its e-mail security and data leak prevention solution available in four different deployment methods — an on-premise appliance, a virtual appliance, software and as an on-demand service. The company initially developed Proofpoint on Demand for large enterprises, which is what it has historically focused on targeting, but Lochart said it became clear that there was a large market for such a service in the SMB space.

When developing the Standard Edition, Proofpoint’s goal was to develop a really simple but effective version of Proofpoint on Demand with a price point tailored to SMB customers, he said.

“We really wanted to come up with something that was really quick and easy for the customer to get running,” Lochart said.

According to Lochart, many e-mail security services aimed at SMBs are so simple that they end up being almost consumer-grade.

“Our goal with Proofpoint on Demand — Standard was to use the same spam engine, have the same 99 per cent spam blocking guarantee that we offer with all of our other products, but package it up in a way that’s easier to deploy and manage,” Lochart said.

Proofpoint on Demand was designed for “lights out” operation and zero administration overhead. The company handles all implementation and offers 24×7 monitoring and operational support, as well as updates and upgrades for customers. It also offers phone support for customer requests.

Additionally, the company sells entirely through channel partners, said Dave Crilley, director of channel marketing at Proofpoint. The Standard Edition of the product is ideal for channel resellers who have SMB customers with low-cost appliances that aren’t working out, he added.

Getting set up on Proofpoint on Demand is fairly simple and quick. Once a customer is signed up, all that has to be done from the customer’s side of things is redirect the MX record within the DNS so e-mail will flow through Proofpoint datacenters, Lochart said.

“This can all be up and running same day or next day for the customer,” Lochart said.

Proofpoint is currently looking for parnters involved in e-mail security and that understand messaging in general, but Crilley most of the company’s channel partners specialize in security.

“A big part of security in business nowadays is securing the pathways in and out of the enterprise through e-mail, and we’ve been really successful in that model,” Crilley said.

This column was written by Chris Talbot of ConnectIT

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