Exciting E-Mail News from eclecTechs
November 20, 2008 10:00 AM
eclecTechs is thrilled to announce that we are upgrading our email filtering service to Barracuda.
The Barracuda Spam Firewall is an integrated hardware and software solution designed to protect your email server from spam, virus, spoofing, phishing and spyware attacks. It leverages 12 comprehensive defense layers to provide industry-leading defense capabilities for any email server within large corporate or small business environments.
As the No. 1 most widely used spam filtering appliance, and winner of numerous industry honors, leading organizations around the world continue to trust Barracuda Spam Firewalls for complete protection against Spam and its resource demanding consequences.
Why upgrade?
Barracuda is the #1 spam filtering device in the world and it has an array of options that make it ideal for our customer base. By installing these devices in our data center, we have total control over our email flow and filtering. We have used the Barracuda for dozens of domains over the last year and found it to accurately block over 95% of the email flow (from spammers) while maintaining a minuscule false-positive ratio. The Barracuda also allows each domain and email account to create their own white and black lists so that you can be sure you will receive your subscription email newsletters and any other email messages that may be considered private to you.
Will this cost me any more?
No, we are committed to provided reasonably priced services to our customers, and have no plans to raise the email prices.
When will this happen?
This upgrade will begin Monday, November 24, 2008 and we expect all domains to be moved by November 30, 2008.
Will I be inconvenienced?
Honestly, probably a little bit. We understand that any change comes with questions and a new learning curve. We will do what we can to ensure a smooth transition and provide you with the information you need to use the Barracuda effectively. An easy to read users guide is online at:
http://www.eclecTechs.com/files/barracuda_usersguide.pdf
The Barracuda gets smarter over time. We expect it to take about 2-3 weeks to get it tuned to a point that is satisfactory to most of our customers. During this time, you may seem a tad more spam or may get a newsletter blocked. But, over a short amount of time, these issues will get resolved.
Do I have to change my settings in Outlook or other email clients?
No, the Barracuda will not affect your e-mail client. It intercepts the e-mail before it gets to our mail servers.
Will I lose my existing black and white lists?
No, our technicians are importing all or the black and white lists from the previous Postini accounts.
Will I see less/more spam?
The Barracuda device blocks a ton of e-mail. For example, our existing Barracuda has the following statistics over the last couple of months: 55 million messages received, 49 million blocked as spam, 5.5 million blocked from high-volume spammers, 2500 blocked viruses, 58 thousand quarantined as questionable spam, and 1.1 million allowed through as clean email. This means the only 2% of all mail the comes through the Barracuda actually ends up in your e-mail boxes.
Some of this 2% may actually be spam. Clever spammers spend a huge amount of time finding ways around these filters. No system is perfect.
Some users may see a slight difference in the filtering. However, over time, the Barracuda will learn to filter better based on the feedback you and hundreds of other users give the system. If you receive what you think is spam, the best way to help is to use your Barracuda control panel to mark it as spam. If for some reason you think an email newsletter or other important message is getting blocked, you can easily add the senders name to your whitelist.
Who do I contact if I have questions?
Please be patient during the first few days and limit calls to critical issues. The users guide and online screens are really easy to understand. For example, you should be able to see your quarantine and edit your black and white lists without contacting us. If you have questions, we want to help. But, please understand that this change will affect thousands of accounts and that we expect phone response time to be slow during the first few days. E-mail support may be addressed to: support@eclectechs.com. Phone support is available during business hours at 413-584-8600 x1
Thank you for your continued business. We hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Dave Flaherty,
President
eclecTechs
PS. Did you know that we offer high-speed DSL upgrades starting at $14.95 per month? Recent infrastructure changes have made this service available to many of our customers in the hills and valleys of Western Massachusetts. If you live in that area and want to upgrade, please call the office at 413-584-8600.
BONUS! If you order new DSL service before December 15th, we'll send you a $25 gift card that can be used anywhere Visa is accepted.
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