Sigaba officials announced a partnership with e-mail security experts ProofPoint Monday in order to provide an integrated secure messaging platform and in the process knit up a third leg of security support for enterprise customers.
The partnership combines the San Mateo, Calif.-based Sigaba’s (otherwise known as Secure Data in Motion) Secure Statements and Secure Instant Messaging applications with ProofPoint’s secure e-mail component.
Sigaba’s security software targets the financial, healthcare and government agencies that have a lot of information regulations governing information release. Companies like Bank of America, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Siemens have signed on to the company’s software.
Rita Tetzlaff, Sigaba director of product marketing, said the partnership was sealed after the companies heard more comments from potential customers asking for an integrated platform for secure messaging.
“It seems to be the direction the market is taking. Customers are always asking for it when we respond to (them),” she told internetnews.com. “I wouldn’t say 50 percent of our customers are, but it seems like they are all at least evaluating it this way. I think that as we move into the
future, it will become more and more of a requirement.”
Tetzlaff said they were looking for a partner that provided the most synergy for its own product line, which sets policy-based stipulations on the information passed by electronic statements and instant messages.
ProofPoint acts on the same principle, using a combination of anti-spam Bayesian algorithms and proprietary code, dubbed Machine Learning (MLX).
She pointed out that while the company now offers an integrated e-mail
component, companies can stick with their existing secure e-mail provider and integrate it on Sigaba’s platform.
The partnership comes as anti-spam technology continues to move from just necessary to critical application in companies’ IT priority lists. According to Brightmail, an anti-spam software developer, 60 percent of all e-mails in January 2004 were spam, the highest percentage in the past 13 months. According to the spam calculator at Computer Mail Services, an enterprise with 100 employees will waste nearly $87 daily on spam-related costs.
