Lotus Protector for Mail Security now available

September 2 2008

Image:Lotus Protector for Mail Security now available

Now available!  Lotus Protector for Mail Security 2.1 was released earlier today on a worldwide basis.  From the channel announcement:
IBM Lotus Protector for Mail Security 2.1, a new Lotus offering based on proven technology from IBM Internet Security Systems (ISS), protects organizations from Internet-based spam, viruses, "phishing" attacks, and other malware. Deployable as either a software-only solution on a virtual server, or as a plug-and-play appliance using separately purchased hardware from IBM ISS, Lotus Protector for Mail Security offers best-of-breed technology that is easy for Domino customers to acquire, deploy, administer, and support.

IBM Lotus Protector for Mail Security:

   * Extends the IBM Lotus Domino security model to help manage e-mails that enter and leave your organization
   * Helps preserve your organization's reputation by inspecting and cleaning e-mail content before it is delivered to your employees
   * Shields recipients from the ever evolving nature of spam
   * Identifies suspected viruses before they are publicly known
   * Uses industry-leading features such as advanced heuristics, IP reputation filtering, and transport layer security (TLS) encryption, to address the needs of Domino customers
   * Works in concert with Domino to create an end-to-end security platform
Last night, I posted a video link to YouTube, where you can find six minutes from Arthur Fontaine, the senior product manager for Lotus Protector.  It's also worth reading his comments on the blog posting, where he explains IBM's strategy in this space in greater detail:
there are two additional parts of the strategy that get more compelling to customers, and of course you can't get too deep into that in a 6 minute Youtube video. The first is the simple fact that we (uniquely) own development of both pieces of the equation, so we get an opportunity to pursue vertical integration between Domino and the Protector layer. Some of the things we're workin on include integrating the "block mail from sender" agent in Notes with antispam system's user block/allow lists, and creating hooks to things like the Bayesian filters, which learn over time what an organization's unique views of spam and ham (non-spam e-mail) are. We're also studying things like extending Domino user/group management, policies, etc., so the administrative activities bridge the barriers of the current multivendor model of e-mail security. So those things aren't in the first (2.1) release of the product, but we're busy with that work in both Westford and Kassel; note that Protector is within the Domino business, and I'm long-term Domino heritage as well. We'll have news here shortly.

The second part of the strategy is that Protector is a family brand, not just a product brand, so we're taking a holistic view of the types of problems enterprise e-mail customers are facing. We're working on things like comprehensive encryption over Internet links (beyond S/MIME and TLS), data loss prevention, and, as you mention, archiving and ediscovery. We're doing them in ways consistent with how we're approaching antispam (e.g., Internet encryption that's integrated with your Notes<->Notes encryption), and across the platform (e.g., your DLP and archiving doesn't fall over because your encryption gets in the way).
I'm also here to tell you that my team is ready to deal, and we've started out with the aggressive stance of a 25% discount for competitive trade-up, just like we do in the Notes/Domino space.  The US list price for the competitive trade-up is US$44.25/user, and that includes support as well as the first year of updates (like the signature file updates needed for both anti-spam and anti-virus).  

Let me know if I can help you with more information on this new offering from Lotus, and congratulations to the entire Protector team.

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Lotus Protector  Add/View Comments [18]

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  1. 1  Mike Lazar  | 9/2/2008 8:14:36 PM

    Ed -- What's the maintenance on the product, 18%? $44.25/user/year is 1st year, I'm looking at years 2 & 3 to see where you stand over the life of a typical contract.

  1. 2  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com | 9/2/2008 8:20:38 PM

    Oy - "WTFMAIL" as the email server in the screenshot.

  1. 3  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 9/2/2008 8:31:47 PM

    @1 renewal is priced around US$15/user/year (includes both updates and tech support). $44.25 is the competitive trade-up price, the list is $59 a year... so the out years are a little higher than the typical Passport part, but the three year price is competitive versus products that charge the same fee annually.

  1. 4  Mike Lazar  | 9/2/2008 9:34:41 PM

    OK...last question before we have to take this offline...is that pricing for a shop with 10 users, 100, 1000, 10,000, 100k? And is that the software only pricing as opposed to the appliance pricing? That pricing is $2.06/user/month for a standard 36 month term. For spam, anything over 100 users you are way overpriced. Just giving you my analysis based on selling this for the past 5 years.

  1. 5  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 9/2/2008 10:00:03 PM

    Mike, that is list price. Will look for you online tomorrow.

  1. 6  Arthur Fontaine  | 9/2/2008 10:02:22 PM

    @4 -- That's the list price, for a unit of one, software only. The standard IBM PA entitled discount curve applies, and street prices are designed to be very competitive at all deployment sizes.

    On that point, the VMWare option is designed to scale from the very smallest organization (literally unit of one) without separate, dedicated hardware costs. With standard mail flows/sizes, VMWare deployments will scale up to about 500-1,000 users. Domino Express and other small accounts will find this option attractive, while allowing growth using the same software code.

  1. 7  sean cull http://www.focul.net | 9/3/2008 2:21:00 AM

    IS there any chance of a hosted solution as per Microsoft Frontbridge, i.e. I just get the service and have no need to worry about appliances, virtual or otherwise. Sean

  1. 8  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 9/3/2008 4:27:36 AM

    @2 - Always loved that server name, second only to a server in my Norwegian office... "NOMAIL" :)

  1. 9  Alan Head  | 9/3/2008 9:28:08 AM

    @7 I agree - a non-hosted solution is a non-starter for us. Been there done that with Clearswift and bought Messagelabs as a result. Is Protector something that could be provided by an IBM Business Partner given the right network connectivity?

  1. 10  Bram van Scharen  | 9/3/2008 9:44:02 AM

    Link on your promoted product page is dead :-(

    { Link }

  1. 11  Christer Eklundh  | 9/3/2008 10:30:31 AM

    2409 unread mails... It' looks like James has same catching up to do. :-)

  1. 12  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com | 9/3/2008 10:49:00 AM

    @11,

    Clearly the team that puts these graphics together needs to really review them carefully before putting them out there for the world to see. 2409 unread emails doesn't make Notes look good as a tool for productivity.

  1. 13  Flemming Riis  | 9/3/2008 11:11:44 AM

    -2409 unread emails doesn't make Notes look good as a tool for productivity.

    its a screen shot people dont care (imo) , what would be better advertisment for protector would be if ibm told they were using it themself.

  1. 14  Irv Schor  | 9/3/2008 11:27:15 AM

    Will there be price/functionality comparison charts for other products, such as IronPort, Barracuda, etc?

  1. 15  Adam Gartenberg http://www.adamgartenberg.com | 9/3/2008 12:38:56 PM

    @11/@12/@13 - Maybe 2409 unread e-mails is why he needs Lotus Protector? :)

  1. 16  Arthur Fontaine  | 9/3/2008 12:42:20 PM

    @10, thanks Bram.... working to fix that. It was a misspelling in the URL, the page is there.

  1. 17  Benjamin Wright http://legal-beagle.typepad.com/wrights_legal_beagle/2008/08/healthcare-inte.html | 9/3/2008 4:50:57 PM

    Ed: As the size of e-mail archives swells, corporations can take legal steps to manage and reduce the volume of what they retain. --Ben { Link }

  1. 18  SWE (software engineer)  http://support.lotus.com | 9/14/2008 7:55:35 PM

    WTFMail stands for "Westford Test Facility" This is a test bed for Lotus production mail. We test everything prior to releasing it gold.