Proofpoint launches into anti-spam fray

Anti-spam startup Proofpoint on Monday emerged from stealth mode backed by $7 million in venture capital and a big name from the Netscape era: Eric Hahn.

Hahn brings his messaging background to Proofpoint, serving as chairman and founder of a company that is attempting to capitalize on burgeoning enterprise demand for effective spam solutions.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company on Monday launched its Proofpoint Protection Server and announced partnerships with Network Associates and Sophos. Its customer list includes Coen Company, E.piphany, Good Technology, Labware, McManus, Faulkner & Morgan, and Riverstone Networks, the company reports. 

Proofpoint’s entry into what the company and analysts acknowledge as an already crowded marketplace comes at a time when federal legislation is attempting to curb the proliferation of unsolicited e-mail traffic.

In that context, Proofpoint CEO Gary Steel believes the launch timing is right. “Every company in the world will need to buy an anti-spam solution in the next 12 to 24 months,” he said. “Organizations are being forced to buy [anti-spam solutions].”

Bolstering the company’s argument is a series of technical components Steel said are difficult to obtain from other offerings.

Proofpoint’s Protection Server works at an enterprise’s IT perimeter, classifying ingoing and outgoing messages using to its Spam Detection, Content Compliance, and Virus Scanning modules.

Like many competing products, it applies Bayesian filtering to statistically analyze each message in-band. It also applies other filtering techniques such as logistical regression.

But according to Laura Koetzle, senior analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, most enterprise customers will not be won over by deep analysis of such underlying technologies.

“Customers have no way of evaluating technical claims,” she said.

The value of a product such as Proofpoint’s is that it places policy enforcement in the hands of a user. “Nobody wants another specialized product that needs a special administrator,” she said.

Designed for companies with 10,000 or more users, Proofpoint’s Protection Server supports Solaris and Red Hat Linux operating systems. On the browser front, it supports Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, Mozilla 1.2 or higher, and Netscape 7.0 or higher.