SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Mirapoint today announced that global service provider BT has deployed Mirapoint's innovative MailHurdle(TM) technology on multiple RazorGate email security appliances. This service enables BT to provide an enhanced level of protection, free of charge, to all BT Business customers using its email service. Mirapoint's unique MailHurdle(TM) technology is used to block over 50% of unwanted message traffic at the network edge to better conserve bandwidth, storage and administrator resources.

BT Business has deployed the RazorGate email security appliances for its business email service since July 2004. The RazorGate appliance was chosen for its complete, multi-layered approach to security, as well as advanced technical features combined with reliability and scalability characteristics critical for large service providers. The BT Business email service needed to provide its hosted customers with effective virus and spam protection with high catch-rates and low false positives. Once installed, BT benchmarked the performance of the RazorGate appliances and found spam catch-rates to consistently be over 95%, while returning at most only one false positive for every 100,000 messages processed.

"As a global Service Provider our customers demand business-class services," said Clive Quantrill, General Manager of BT Business Value Added Services "We knew in order to get the performance, reliability and features we needed to meet our requirements, we had to go with an appliance-based solution. After our testing, we found Mirapoint's RazorGate appliances could meet our requirements and effectively balance high catch-rates with virtually zero false positives. Managing our networks can be challenging with the constantly evolving threats facing inbound and outbound traffic, so it is important we have a partner like Mirapoint who truly understands the message network."

RazorGate appliances are a proven solution in the industry that provides carrier-class reliability, dependability and performance, without compromising on ease-of-management or completeness of email security protection. Consistent high spam and virus catch-rates are achieved through Mirapoint's multi-layered approach to security, called the Full-Spectrum(TM) technology. RazorGate appliances employ a secure, hardened operating system with no known exploits and utilize revolutionary technology like MailHurdle(TM), which stops unwanted email at the edge of the network and eliminates it before any network resources are wasted. Virus scanning is also tightly integrated into each appliance, with automatic, network-based virus and spam updates. Additional layers of protection include rich content filtering tools for defining email policies and per user controls that lets users define junk mail, as well as customize their filtering rules.

"Mirapoint has been in the secure messaging business for over six years," said Barry Ariko, CEO and Chairman for Mirapoint. "We truly understand the mission-critical nature of email as a business communications' tool for our customers and ultimately their end-users. For that reason, Mirapoint appliances have been built from the ground-up to be secure, reliable and require minimal ongoing administration, so our customers can focus on their core business and not managing basic email."

About BT

BT is one of the world's leading providers of communications solutions serving customers in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. Its principal activities include IT and networking services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and Internet products and services. BT consists principally of three lines of business:

-- BT Retail, providing a comprehensive range of communications and related services to more than 20 million UK consumers and businesses. -- BT Wholesale, providing network services and solutions within the UK to more than 600 fixed and mobile operators and service providers including broadband and private circuits. -- BT Global Services, providing IT and networking services to meet the needs of multi-site organizations globally. BT Global Services operates in more than 130 countries and also offers international carrier services.

In the year ended March 31st 2004, BT Group's turnover was 18,519 million pounds Sterling with profit before goodwill amortization, exceptional items and taxation of 2,013 million pounds. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York. British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. For more information, visit http://www.bt.com/aboutbt.

About Mirapoint

Mirapoint(R) is a leader in solutions for message networks used by service provider, enterprise, education and government institutions. Customers use Mirapoint solutions, including the RazorGate email security appliances, to build message networks that intelligently and securely route, store, access and manage Internet messages, including email. Mirapoint is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia. For more information on Mirapoint, visit its Web site at http://www.mirapoint.com/.

CONTACT: Jeff Brainard of Mirapoint, Inc., +1-408-720-3861, or
jbrainard@mirapoint.com; or Michelle Van Jura of FusionPR, +1-310-575-4814,
ext. 3793, or michelle.vanjura@fusionpr.com, for Mirapoint, Inc.

Web site: http://www.bt.com/aboutbt

Web site: http://www.mirapoint.com/