Case Study - Pronto Print Solutions

Company: Pronto Print Solutions

Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Industry: Commercial Print Provider

Contact: Mike Keegan

Number of Employees: 48

Product in Use: GFI MailSecurity™ & GFI MailEssentials™

Quick read

Pronto Print Solutions have been in the printing and photocopying industry for 29 years operating from two locations, Auckland and Wellington. Since the majority of their workload is conducted over email, Pronto Print Solutions realized the need for an effective anti-spam solution that would sift through incoming emails and deliver only the genuine mail to the user’s inbox. They also needed to secure their email servers from viruses and malware attacks that could cause downtime and therefore a potential loss of business, so they opted for GFI MailSecurity that acts as an email firewall offering protection from email viruses, exploits and threats.

Challenges

Pronto Print Solutions Ltd. rely heavily on email in order to receive orders from customers as well as for internal communication; as with the majority of modern organizations email is the prime method of communication for the company. Therefore the installation of a technology system to protect their email servers was an important decision. They tried out one solution, but this did not satisfy the criteria that the organization needed so they decided to research other software, and settled upon GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity.

“We had been using Symantec Anti Virus Corporate Edition. But found it to be unreliable and cumbersome to update. I had read great things about GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity, and decided to evaluate the products. Spam had started to become a big issue for our organization, and I quickly found that GFI MailEssentials started immediately to identify and eradicate the spam. The product has grown up over the years (currently on Version 14 of GFI MailEssentials and Version 10 of GFI MailSecurity) to the point that we get very few false positives (maybe 0.5%)”, said Mike Keegan, General Manager of Pronto Print Solutions Ltd.

This decision proved to be the right one for the company’s size and needs as both products work well with their existing infrastructure and block spam and viruses from attacking their system. “Back in 2004 the issue of spam was not as big a problem as it is now. As the issue grew back in 2004 we knew we needed something to eliminate the problem on our network, both with viruses and spam.”

Implementation

Having already read up on GFI before the organization was aware of the solutions that it offered and the client feedback that GFI had received on its products. Pronto Print Solutions Ltd. checked out some other technologies on the market; however, a major feature that aided in Pronto Print’s decision was the ability to test a full version of the software during a trial period and thus make an informed decision about whether to install the software on a long-term basis.

“We looked into the managed External Service, Mako MailGuard from Mako Networks and also the solution from Message Labs. Being able to evaluate GFI’s product for three months was a real bonus. We like the idea of ‘Try before you buy’. We had the full product and not some cut down version that would tell you there is a virus or spam, but do nothing about it. Yes, the ability to evaluate the full version was the major reason we had the confidence to go with GFI,” he added. “Moreover we like to the keep the ability ‘In House’ in the case of false positives, which, though a very small percentile, can cause a big issue with an important client trying to get some urgent copy through to be printed.”

The implementation of both GFI technology solutions onto the organization’s new server system and network was a simple and succinct procedure that did not interfere with their pre-installed systems. The GFI software solutions integrated easily and began running and filtering spam and blocking viruses immediately.

“Recently we moved platforms to SBS 2003 from SBS 2000, which included new server hardware. We had both these products up and running within one hour with all existing settings and databases installed, and more importantly catching all viruses and spam once the Internet connection was re-enabled. Compared to previous software installed on the server the GFI products have little impact on the server/network performance, except for the lack of spam and virus-laden email that now do not make it into the network. Straight away, you can see the impact; just one look at the new GFI MailEssentials Dashboard Status and you can see right in front of your eyes what has been stopped or quarantined by each module. Viewing the statistics is another eye opener.”

Mr. Keegan said that apart from the initial installation phase being an easy procedure and one that does not involve too much time or effort; subsequent updates that are released by GFI are also very straightforward and readily manageable. “When a major update is released, it’s only a 20 minute procedure to remove existing version and install the new version.”

Benefits

The installation of GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity provided Pronto Print Solutions Ltd. with the greatest benefit that they were after, “in one word – SECURITY”. Having two offices in two separate locations dependant on technology for production to proceed meant that the company could not take the issue of security lightly. The safety measures put in place by the company ensured that their clients’ files and data could be electronically transported with the peace of mind that they weren’t under threat of being hacked by viruses, thus corrupting the files and threatening both their network and their clients’.

“Being a service provider, we would be dead in the water if we got hit by a virus and then spread this to some of our external accounts, of which a large proportion are Government and large corporate organizations.”

The company’s employees were also positively affected by the use of GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity as spam and viruses were dealt with at server level and not permitted to filter down to the user level, thus saving them the time that would otherwise be spent scanning their email inboxes and deleting spam manually. It also eliminated the responsibility that they previously had of accidentally opening an infected email that could contain malware and therefore infect the computer and network. This was a positive outcome for employees and management alike.

“The issue of managing the spam and viruses with GFI software solutions was now centralized on the servers rather than localized on workstations. Plus it soon became an easy sell to the owner of the company ’the value and reliability‘ of GFI Content Security solutions.”

From a technology perspective, GFI MailEssentials encompasses two anti-spam engines including SpamRazer which is designed to be very simple to use and requires no tweaking or training for it to be fully effective to filter the latest spam attacks. This, coupled with the other anti-spam techniques offered on the software, ensures that all computers are protected from spam emails with a minimal rate of low positives. Working in tandem with GFI MailEssentials, GFI MailSecurity acts as an email firewall and protects from email viruses, exploits and threats.    

“The technology used by GFI MailEssentials, particularly the whitelists, blacklists and my favorite, Bayesian Analysis, were all positive impacts.  Haven recently updated to GFI MailEssentials 14 I have found the new SpamRazer to be a wonderful tool. Also the inclusion of Directory Harvesting at SMTP level has really cut down on the amount of spam entering the network. GFI MailSecurity remains a bullet proof solution in stopping any virus entering the system. Set either of these products up and forget them; except for some weekly monitoring they are an IT professionals’ dream. If only all software solutions lived up to their promises like GFI MailEssentials and GFI MailSecurity do!”

The financial side is always an important consideration in any business and whilst security technology is not something to scrimp on, it’s important to ensure that a software solution provides value to the organization and is suitable for its size and needs. The GFI solutions that Pronto Print Solutions Ltd. opted for were ideal for their company size and infrastructure thus resulting in them being a cost-effective solution that also saved time in operations efforts.

“These products (GFI MailEssentials & GFI MailSecurity) are great value out of the box, with excellent cost realized by the yearly renewal of license. We are spending less time dedicated to sorting out legitimate emails from spam and have had no viruses get through to us via email in four years. So less time (and therefore money) in IT personnel resources, no downtime due to viruses and more up time of our workstations.”

Target Reached

“Fantastic products – cannot emphasize this enough. You have made my life and the company’s life a lot simpler and easier. Thank you.”

Links

For more information about GFI MailSecurity and GFI MailEssentials visit: http://www.gfi.com/mailsecurity/ and http://www.gfi.com/mes/ respectively.
_{All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
April 2008}