Event
Summary
On September 20 1999, Sendmail released Sendmail 3.0 for the NT Server platform.
The product targets small to mid-size organizations and Internet Service Providers
and offers interoperability with Open Source Sendmail coupled with familiar
NT Administrative Tools and Interfaces. Sendmail 3.0 includes the Sendmail Message
Transfer Agent, a Mailing List Server, a POP3 Server and a Message Store.
Market
Impact
The
Sendmail MTA and Relay Agents are used by 74% (Source: Sendmail) of the approximately
8000 (Source: ISP Watch) ISPs on the web today. Version 3.0 for NT Server extends
Sendmail's security capabilities with anti-spam features, and features preventing
the server from being used as a relay host. Included in the product is an access-blocking
application, which allows system administrators to utilize published "spam-blacklists"
to further protect the internal mail recipients. Sendmail 3.0 has an extremely
simplified GUI based installation wizard, which requires approximately 10 mouse
clicks to complete configuration. The speed in which POP3 connection times process
has been improved, offering a 10 fold faster performance than the previous revision
2.5 of Sendmail for NT.
Lotus,
Microsoft and GroupWise do not offer built in anti-spam features, but do have
anti-relay mechanisms built in. Sendmail was designed to supplement corporate
e-mail systems. By implementing a Sendmail MTA, a systems administrator will
effectively mask the interior mail system, thereby enhancing security. In addition
to enhanced security, the built in anti-spam and anti-relay features will further
increase corporate anti-spam and anti-relay implementations.
User
Recommendations
Microsoft
Windows NT environments will benefit from a Sendmail implementation due to the
product's robust MTA and enhanced security features, in addition to enhanced
processing speed. The product is priced extremely competitively at $9,995 for
5000 mailboxes, making the product a viable choice for IT executives with a
close eye on the bottom line.
The
majority of established ISPs are heavily based in UNIX systems and most already
have UNIX Sendmail implementations. The 3.0 release is geared for Windows NT
Server, which is starting to be implemented by some of the newer ISPs on the
Internet today. The product is not specifically geared to the upcoming Windows
2000 Active Directory Service, but will function in the same fashion as it would
under the NT Server 4.0 platform. The release of the product is a definite positive
for both ISPs and corporations looking to enhance the speed of Internet mail
while providing enhanced security.