GFI Launches MailEssentials Complete for SMB Email Security

Much like the online backup market, the email security market is getting pretty darn crowded. Among the latest moves: GFI Software today launches GFI MailEssentials Complete, an anti-spam, anti-phishing and email security solution that VARs and MSPs can offer to small and midsize business customers. MailEssentials Complete is available as an on-premise solution or as a hosted service.

“We see the opportunity for multiple solutions,” said Alex Eckelberry, general manager for GFI’s Security Business Unit. “SMB’s see that having a variety of solutions is a good business practice. They’re now mixing and matching solutions.”

GFI MailEssentials complete has been in the works for about three years. Along the way GFI closely studied how rival Barracuda Networks built its pricing model for email security model. “They [Barracuda] did a good job of capturing the low end of the market. We spent a lot of time trying to develop a solution that’s easier to deploy at a better price,” said Eckelberry. “It’s the Mercedes Benz model at the Chevy Price.”

Eckelberry identified three things SMB’s are demanding from their email security service: flexibility, continuity and redundancy. “They can make their security service as complex or as simple as they want,” he said. GFI MailEssentials is available through a yearly contract. Eckelberry said customers looking for a monthly service contract are better suited for the GFI Max MailProtection solution.

GFI MailEssentials Complete surfaces in an increasingly crowded market. Email security companies such as Exchange Defender, Reflexion and Spam Soap have been attending major conferences in recent weeks to promote their various offerings to MSPs. Some folks are also watching the forthcoming launch of Microsoft Office 365, since Microsoft is looking to build more and more email security directly into its SaaS offerings.

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri. Sign up for MSPmentor’s Weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. Follow us via RSS, Facebook, Identi.ca and Twitter. Check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com. Read our editorial disclosure here.