Frequently Asked Questions
Sendio's executives answer some of the (real) questions we get from potential customers. If you have other ones, please send them to us here.
- What's wrong with filters?
- Is spam really a problem?
- Is there a technology that stops spam without blocking legitimate email?
- What is a "false positive?"
- Aren't some filters better than others?
- My filter works fine - why should I buy an I.C.E. Box?
- What about "reputation management" systems to filter out emails?
- I'm an IT manager, and I spend a lot of time trying to fight spam. Isn't there a better way to eliminate unwanted emails?
- Is Sendio cost-effective?
- What makes Sendio different?
- Is Sender Address Verification the same as challenge-response?
- How does Sender Address Verification work?
- Is Sender Address Verification compatible with Yahoo! Domain Keys?
- Is SAV compatible with Sender Policy Framework (SPF)?
- What is the difference between deploying a spam solution on an appliance vs. software?
- We're a small company - Is Sendio for me?
- Q: What's wrong with filters?
A: Everything! Most corporate anti-spam products rely on algorithms and filters to separate legitimate messages from unwanted email messages - unfortunately, they miss large numbers of unwanted emails while mistakenly characterizing useful messages as spam. The filter model is fundamentally flawed because filters have no way of distinguishing between bad and good emails. All of the major enterprise or corporate solutions on the market today attempt to guess, using patterns and keywords, what is spam and what is not spam.
>>back to the top - Q: Is spam really a problem?
A: Spam is more than a nuisance - unwanted emails cost businesses billions of dollars a year in lost productivity and lost revenue. Experts estimate that 228 billion spam messages will bombard consumer and enterprise e-mail boxes in 2008, up from an estimated 116 billion in 2006. This will account for nearly 90% of all email messages sent. The cost of unwanted email messages is expected to grow to ~$2,000 per year in lost productivity per employee for a total economic loss of $20B per year by 2008. If these numbers are too monstrous to contemplate, try this: spam emails often contain viruses, Trojan horses and spyware, all of which can threaten the safety and security of your data. Sendio kills all of them before they even enter your network.
>>back to the top - Q: Is there a technology that stops spam without blocking legitimate email?
Yes. Sender Address Verification (SAV) technology blocks spam by verifying the sender, rather than using filters to profile the content of each message and make a logical guess if a particular message is spam or legitimate mail. This approach is 100% effective and does not create "false positives."
>>back to the top - Q: What is a "false positive?"
A: A false positive is what happens when a filter blocks a legitimate email message. For example, Central DuPage Hospital near Chicago found that emails (such as prescriptions for Viagra) were getting filtered out. That's why they selected Sendio to replace their filter-based system. With Sendio, users never get spam messages, so they don't have to waste time digging through folders looking for false positives.
>>back to the top - Q: Aren't some filters better than others?
A: Yes - and the Hindenburg was better than the Titanic. No matter how good filters get, they're still the wrong approach. Even sophisticated filters still have the same basic problems of false positives. Without true artificial intelligence (which does not exist today, and probably never will), there is no way to have "smart filtering."
>>back to the top - Q: My filter works fine - why should I buy an I.C.E. Box?
A: If you never get spam emails, advertisements, or mass emails that you don't want to read - and if your filter never traps a legitimate message - congratulations, you don't need an I.C.E. Box. But we'll bet you a steak dinner that your enterprise-level filter isn't doing its job. In contrast, the I.C.E. Box kills 100% of inbound spam. Your call.
>>back to the top - Q: What about "reputation management" systems to filter out emails?
A: Much like selling alcohol at sporting events, this is better in theory than practice. The philosophy behind these systems is that "trusted" companies would never stoop so low as to send spam to the public. If you believe that no major company (like Enron, Tyco or Arthur Andersen) would ever do anything unscrupulous, you need a lot more help than we can provide.
>>back to the top - Q: I'm an IT manager, and I spend a lot of time trying to fight spam. Isn't there a better way to eliminate unwanted emails?
A: First of all, you have our condolences. Filters require constant attention from IT managers, and they still don't get the job done. One of our customers, Judy Godfrey, Manager Information Systems at DailyAccess, says that she spent at least an hour each day deleting spam and looking through folders for false positives. "We were inundated," she says. "It was absolutely overwhelming. Even with a filter in place, our CEO was getting more than 100 spam messages every day." In contrast, Sendio requires almost no IT involvement. Just plug it in and forget about it.
>>back to the top - Q: Is Sendio cost-effective?
A: Of course we'll say yes, but we're biased. Instead of taking our word for it, read what one of our customers said: "the I.C.E. Box completely solved our issues with spam. It is so effective and so efficient we simply don't even think about it anymore. It has been the best investment that I have ever made for my company relative to cost of the product and time saved on a day-to-day basis. Company-wide, it paid for itself in less than two months . It is a rock-solid product and met our needs perfectly." 'Nuff said.
>>back to the top - Q: What makes Sendio different?
A: Most corporate anti-spam products rely on filters to separate legitimate messages from unwanted email messages - unfortunately, they miss large numbers of unwanted emails (including, but not limited to, spam) while mistakenly characterizing useful messages as "false positives." Sendio builds a box that kills unwanted emails with Sender Address Verification , which empowers users by transparently accepting messages based on who sent them, rather than relying on filters to reject unwanted messages.
>>back to the top - Q: Is Sender Address Verification the same as challenge-response?
A: Yes, SAV is an advanced implementation of challenge-response that has been in medium and large enterprises all over the world, with 100% customer satisfaction. Why? Because it works.
>>back to the top - Q: How does Sender Address Verification work?
A: Sender Address Verification (SAV) is the best answer to the unwanted email problem. SAV is based on the premise that all senders must announce and authenticate themselves the first time they send a piece of e-mail. Sendio is the only enterprise-level tool that uses Sender Address Verification. Sendio is effective because we offer a hardware device that prevents spam from reaching corporate email servers. In other words, there is no spam to filter because unwanted messages never even make it into the system. The Sendio I.C.E. Box (Intercept, Confirm or Eliminate) is an enterprise-class appliance capable of processing millions of messages a day per server.
>>back to the top - Q: Is Sender Address Verification compatible with Yahoo! Domain Keys?
A: Yes, SAV is completely compatible with Yahoo! Domain Keys.
>>back to the top - Q: Is SAV compatible with Sender Policy Framework (SPF)?
A: Yes, SAV is entirely consistent with Sender Policy Framework (SPF), and an SAV-powered network appliance can be deployed to make implementation of SPF simple and highly effective.
>>back to the top - Q: What is the difference between deploying a spam solution on an appliance vs. software?
To fight spam effectively, a high-availability network appliance is warranted for three reasons: First, an anti-spam appliance sits in front of the email infrastructure, helping to protect the perimeter from spam-born viruses (spam doesn't get into the enterprise in the first place). Second, an appliance off-loads processing, leaving the email server with more resources to do its job: deliver the enterprise's email. Third, the anti-spam network appliance can be deployed as a high-availability cluster for business continuity.
>>back to the top - Q: We're a small company - Is Sendio for me?
A: Of course. Sendio's products are designed for small, medium, and large companies. To see if your organization could benefit, please contact us and we'll let you know if we're the right fit.
>>back to the top