Solutions for Internet Service Providers

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) face unique challenges when dealing with spam and viruses. PerfectMail solutions are available in configurations that are perfect for ISPs with up to 50,000 (or more) in-baskets.

Our appliances can be easily deployed in scalable, redundant configurations. And, because we do not charge user or domain licenses, you are free to protect as many users as you like.

We sell ISPs the same software and appliances that we sell to our business customers. But, we custom tune these products to meet the specific requirements of an ISP. By tuning the appliance, we can support more than tripple the number of recommended users while still providing excellent overall performance.

Protecting Customers from Unwanted E-Mail

ISPs often take up this challenge by rolling out SpamAssassin. SpamAssassin is cheap (free), moderately effective and transparent to customers. Many of our ISP customers have already tried (and discarded) SpamAssassin due to ongoing problems (click here to find out more about how PerfectMail differs from SpamAssassin).

PerfectMail is an excellent alternative to SpamAssassin and other free solutions because:

• Like SpamAssassin, PerfectMail free of User & Domain licenses.
  You can deploy PerfectMail solutions with out the worry and hassle of having to track and license users or domains.
• PerfectMail is more accurate.
  We can deliver 99.9+% accuracy, whereas SpamAssassin's accuracy fluctuates as spammers actively work to defeat it.
• PerfectMail is more consistent
  PerfectMail learns by watching e-mail traffic. Once it auto-discovers e-mail peer relationships, PerfectMail will never reject e-mail between peers (exceptions are viruses and messages with unwanted attachments). This feature is completely missing from SpamAssassin. Click here to find out more about PerfectMail's accuracy and consistency.
• PerfectMail is more efficient
  SpamAssassin was programmed in Perl - an interpreted language. PerfectMail is programmed entirely in C and compiled into machine code. Typically machine code executes 100x faster than interpreted code.
• PerfectMail can handle larger message volumes
  Our ISP customers have related stories of SpamAssassin based mail filters crashing due to high e-mail volumes. When this happens, ISPs may suffer lost messages, large volumes of spam, a tarnished reputation and unhappy customers.
• PerfectMail is self training
  Many antispam and antivirus solutions require users and administrators to train the product before becoming effective. PerfectMail auto-trains, learning everything it needs to know to safely and effectively protect you from spam and viruses.
• We update PerfectMail for you
  XPMsoftware will automatically push PerfectMail updates to your appliance as soon as they are ready. This means that you nolonger have to waste time searching for updates, downloading them, building the new version, learning how the new features work and placing the whole thing into production.
• PerfectMail has a complete reporting system
  PerfectMail offers administrators a complete query and reporting system. PerfectMail provides; Query by Time, Query by Domain, Query by User, Query by User & Peer, and more. No more rummaging through log files to see what happened.
• PerfectMail shows you what it is doing
  PerfectMail's charts and graphs tell you exactly what it is doing for you. You get activity charted multiple ways including line, stacked line, percent and pie graphs for 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days and 30 weeks.
• PerfectMail reports in Real-Time
  All PerfectMail reports are generated in real-time. That way, you can look at what is going on right now.
• All reports are available in PDF format
  Need to provide a customer with an activity summary or detail report? No problem, simply produce the report in the PerfectMail web interface and e-mail it to your customer in PDF format. No more copying and pasting data to create your own reports.

Controlling Cost

PerfectMail solutions reduce overall costs by addressing key cost components in any ISPs business model:

• No Per-User Licenses
  Your users are your business - not ours. All PerfectMail appliances work without per-user licenses or restrictions. We recommend certain user populations based on experience, but you are free to exceed these limits. Support as many users as you like per appliance. This means that, unlike some competitors, you can purchase multiple PerfectMail appliances (for redundancy) without the need to buy extra user licenses.
• No Per-Domain Licenses
  Some competitors limit the number of domains you can protect with their products - not us. PerfectMail appliances routinely protect hundreds of domains (or more). You are free to configure your appliance to support as many domains as you like without having to purchase costly domain licenses or upgrades.
• Reduced Mail Server Costs
  PerfectMail keeps junk e-mail off of your mail server. This significantly reduces the amount of mail traffic your mail servers must handle (we have seen reductions of 80% or more). By reducing the amount of mail your server must handle, you can support more users with fewer mail servers. This reduces mail servers hardware and support costs.
• Reduced Network Bandwidth
  Unwanted e-mail can burn significant network bandwidth. By eliminating this sort of traffic, PerfectMail helps ISPs use existing bandwidth more effectively. The result may be delayed bandwidth upgrades which significanlty reduce monthly operating charges.
• Improved Customer Retention
  Customer churn costs you money. Customers will be reluctant to leave your service when they receive exceptional e-mail protection. Holding on to existing customers while actively working to add new customers will help you build your business.
• Reduced Support Costs when compared to Unfiltered Mail
  ISPs who do not offer mail filtering typically see more support calls. Customers call in asking the help-desk to delete unwanted mail that clog the customers in-basket. By keeping unwanted mail out of your customers' in-basket, support calls are reduced.
• Reduced Support Costs when compared to Other Antispam products
  PerfectMail's accuracy, consistency, scalability and fair licensing mean that all of your customers' mail is properly filtered. This means that customers no longer call in asking questions about mis-handled mail or how to use a quarantine.
• Reduced Administrator Costs
  PerfectMail runs lights-out. Since it is self-learning and auto-adjusting, you no longer need to devote time to tuning, tweaking, adjusting or plain tinkering with your mail filter. Typically, administrators spend less than 30 minutes/week working with PerfectMail.

Generating Profits

Here is a strategy used by some ISPs to drive revenue:

1. Install PerfectMail & Give it Away for 30 Days
   Add PerfectMail to your infrastructure, and give it away for 30 days. Your customers will be delighted to use the Internet without the risk and annoyance of spam and viruses. Announce to your customers that this is a free trial and that the service is available as a Premium Service once the free trial period ends.
2. Charge a Modest Fee
   Inform customers that PerfectMail filtering is available at a modest monthly fee. Fee structures should be based on either domains or accounts and can be as inexpensive as $5/domain/month or $1-$2/user/month.
   
   We'll work with you to build a fee-based business. XPMsoftware is happy to discuss a revenue sharing model that can put a PerfectMail appliance into your datacenter with no up-front capital cost.
3. Turn off PerfectMail after the Free Trial Period is Over
   Spammers never give up. So, users who opt-out of PerfectMail filtering will call in to complain about the sudden re-appearance of spam. Use these calls to up-sell your customers to your Premier Service based on PerfectMail.
4. Sit Back and Watch The Revenue Come In
   Since PerfectMail operates lights-out, you won't burn your new revenue stream in support and maintenance time. Your new revenue stream goes straight to the bottom line.

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