Netbox Micro
The Netbox is a hardware network appliance, not strictly a software application, however the software running on the Netbox is really the feature of the unit. The Netbox operates not only as a standalone mail server (with the antivirus scanning as an option), it can also function as a router, firewall, network traffic shaper, name server, and a myriad of other devices.
It is one of the more complete and fully featured appliances a company of up to 150 staff could want. Since the demise of Cobalt and its RAQ series of network appliance servers once consumed by Sun, we are interested to see a decent new appliance vendor on the block, and homegrown too.
Since the Netbox incorporates its own mail server (including Web mail capabilities as well as traditional POP3 and SMTP) the antivirus option is very straightforward. Following a similar concept to several of the other packages here, the NetBox combines several third-party AV vendors' products into a single machine. There are four altogether, Clam (standard), Eset's NOD32 (optional subscription), Network Associates' Virus Scan (optional subscription), and Computer Associates' Innoculate IT.
Each package is set to check for new definitions every six hours, however Netbox has a very nifty way of updating its registered NetBoxes in the field with new AV definitions within a few minutes of them being released. Netbox HQ monitors the AV vendors for new releases every three minutes or so and as soon as a new update is released, NetBox downloads the update and pushes it out to all the registered NetBoxes. Having the NetBoxes registered like this also allows NetBox HQ to provide a dynamic DNS service to its clients who are on ADSL, ISDN, or cable, even 56Kbps Internet services that don't have static IP addresses. That way customers can still host and manage their own mail server in-house on their NetBox without having to go to the expense of having static IP addresses on their ISP connections.
Administration is handled via a well-defined, clear and logical Web browser interface. There is a plethora of extra configuration tools and administration options available to the operator, including the ability to manually set name, type, and text blocking rules so even before the scanners come into play most nasties can be fended off.
We were extremely impressed by the NetBox, which is fully designed and assembled in Australia. The design engineers are all Australians and the product is really first class and is set at an affordable price. While not for the truly enormous enterprise, up to 150 users would definitely get a lot of mileage by putting in a machine like this, particularly if IT staff resources are at a premium, this box would take a lot of the weekly burdens away from the IT administrator.
| Product | NetBox Micro |
| Price | AU$3,276 (one box can serve up to 150 users) |
| Vendor | Oxcoda |
| Phone | 1300 737 060 |
| Web | www.netbox.biz |
| Interoperability |  |
| Can intercept all mail at the gateway and scan or apply rules to traffic. | |
| Futureproofing |  |
| Four engines supported. | |
| ROI |  ½ |
| Well priced considering the features included, and the time saved on IT administration if deployed well. | |
| Service |  |
| 12-month replacement warranty; extended warranty available. | |
| Rating |  ½ |
Unfortunately mailmarshal's reporting of problems to the sender leaves a lot to be desired. It's reports are amongst the least useful of any mail gateway software on the market, failing to include the headers of the original message, and typically misidentifying or not identifying the sender and recipients.
As someone who sees a lot of bounces from mailing list traffic, I'm sick of not knowing which addresses are supposed to be removed from the list.