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Contents 
Introduction
The pros and cons
Evading the spamsters
A final note of caution |
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There are many questions to be asked of any third-party interested in handling your sensitive data -- and charging you for the privilege. Before throwing yourself in the deep end, there are a lot of questions you will need to ask service providers to ensure that you choose the right provider, and the right service, for your needs.
One of your key priorities should be to find out where the data will be physically stored. Most reputable outsourcers would use data centres with high security and high availability, but certainly their offerings differ enough that some thorough research is required. Check, for example, that the hosting company is financially sound.
Be sure that the company providing the service has a proven track record -- not just in hosting or application provision, but in providing a complete e-mail management service to customers of similar scope to your organisation.
Like any outsourcing agreement, you need to have clear goals in mind for what you expect to achieve -- and these objectives need to be met under a service-level agreement with your service provider.
Most importantly, ask the big questions about what security measures that will be in place to protect the integrity of your data.
| Who's out there? | ||
| MailGuard | MessageLabs | Webcentral |
| MailGuard is a non-invasive anti-virus and content filtering e-mail management service that also happens to be Australian-designed, managed, and owned. MailGuard is supported by Sophos Anti-Virus, Norton Anti-Virus (Symantec) and McAfee (NAI). |
MessageLabs provides managed e-mail security services for businesses. The company offers protection against threats such as spam, viruses, and other unwanted content before they reach customer's networks. | ASX-listed service provider Webcentral offers a remotely-managed e-mail service (based on the Microsoft Exchange product) named Managed Exchange. It is designed to improve the reliability and accessibility of a business' e-mail system. |
Features include:
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Phone: 1300 30 44 30 Web: mailguard.com.au |
Phone: 02 9409 4360 Web: messagelabs.com |
Phone: 1800 800 099 Web: webcentral.com.au |
This article was first published in Technology & Business magazine.
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The journalism in this article is pathetic.
Just a monkey cut and pasting facts and references with very little analysis.
ZDNET needs to pay more obviously.