ActiveSync and Me: A First-hand Account of Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync in SmarterMail 6.x

July 29, 2009 by

One of the benefits of working at SmarterTools is that I get to ALPHA and BETA test the new features and functions of our products as they are being developed. Sometimes these new features are so cool that it is hard for me to keep quiet about them until they have been officially announced. The optional Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync add-on for SmarterMail 6.x is one of those times.

Is It ActiveSync or Exchange ActiveSync?

It is important that we understand that we are talking about Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (as opposed to ActiveSync for Windows). The similarity in naming has caused a little confusion.

As WindowsforDevices.com explains, ActiveSync for Windows was “designed to trade information between a Windows CE or Windows Mobile device and a desktop computer. This product only works via a serial cable, USB, Bluetooth, or other local connection.” This is the old-school, wired syncing that we all did with our first and second generation PDAs and has nothing to do with what we are talking about here.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync was launched in 2003 and has been greatly updated and enhanced over the years. It utilizes true push technology to synchronize emails, folders, calendars, contacts, and tasks over-the-air between a server and a mobile device. This is the technology now available as an optional add-on with SmarterMail 6.x.

SmarterMail Synchronization Then and Now

Last year’s major release of SmarterMail 5.x built upon our previous standard wired and Outlook synchronization technologies to include over-the-air synchronization for most mobile devices using SyncML protocols. As a result, the ability to sync mobile devices with SmarterMail was pretty good–my Blackberry synced in near real-time.

But we recognized that there were still mobile devices that were not supported by these methods (such as certain Nokia smartphones) and that some key collaboration tools were synced on some phones but not on others (for example, iPhone calendars). SmarterTools is committed to improving and expanding our products’ capabilities, and when we decided to improve SmarterMail’s mobile synchronization features, ActiveSync fit the bill.

Preliminary testing showed that Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync’s proprietary technology is, in a few words, blazingly fast. Indeed, this is the core advantage of ActiveSync’s patented approach as a series of methods for streamlining and accelerating the synchronization of email and collaboration information in two directions with mobile devices.

Core Advantages of SmarterMail with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync

Some key advantages ActiveSync holds over other synchronization methods include:

  • Low impact on battery life. Because other synchronization methods are less efficient in how they handle data, some sync types use a lot more radio transmission time. Actual transmission is the most power-intensive thing a cell phone or mobile device does and it dramatically eats away at battery life. Cutting seconds off of over-the-air data transmission can add hours of uptime in between charging your mobile devices.
  • True two-way syncing. Changes made in SmarterMail’s Webmail interface or associated email clients like Microsoft Outlook are quickly pushed to the mobile device and changes made on the mobile device are updated on the mail server just as quickly. No additional actions are necessary.
  • Speed, speed, speed. Microsoft was smart to get patents on their ActiveSync methods. During SmarterTools’ detailed evaluation of the technology, it was my job to read through all of the patent descriptions for the several technologies covered. Their proprietary changes make real improvements and are quite clever. Sometimes the small things make all of the difference.
  • More devices and more syncing. As I write this, SmarterMail is one of the few mail products licensed to include and resell Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. However, there are many device and firmware manufacturers that have embraced this technology, including Apple, Motorola, Nokia, Palm, Sony Ericsson, and Symbian, and it is already available on hundreds of different smartphone models.

SmarterMail with ActiveSync: It Works

I have had the opportunity to test the new Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync add-on with my Apple iPhone 3Gs.  The set up was easy—just a few clicks on the iPhone and a query to our internal SmarterMail 6.x server and my contacts, calendars, email, and folders were fully synced. The whole process took a little over a minute to complete and made hundreds of contacts and a month’s worth of email and calendar information accessible from my iPhone. (By the way, you can set the iPhone and ActiveSync to grab data from the last few days, weeks, months, or more.)

I tested the two-way sync extensively, accepted calendar items, created new calendar items, edited contacts, and sent email. The synching and updating of data was seamless in both the Webmail interface and on the iPhone. The screens refreshed in seconds—sometimes before I even had the chance to click the stopwatch. It was amazing.

With the ability to sync my iPhone with SmarterMail via Exchange ActiveSync, I’m no longer tied to my computer. I can work from anywhere and am only seconds away from accessing my emails, invites, and other data. I have truly become a mobile worker.

A Few Final Words about SmarterMail and Synchronization

The existing on-board synching tools included with SmarterMail will be more than sufficient for many users. However, power users and demanding customers (a list that now includes me) will quickly become addicted to the speed and additional functionality of SmarterMail 6.x with ActiveSync. Hosting providers and ISPs will likely find that users are willing to pay a premium for email service that includes the ActiveSync add-on. When coupled with the enhanced archiving and mailing list features coming in version 6.x, small to medium-sized businesses will find that SmarterMail is a solid, cost-effective alternative to Microsoft Exchange.

Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation [MSFT]. Blackberry is a trademark of Research in Motion Ltd. [RIMM]. iPhone is a trademark of Apple Inc. [AAPL]. All other images, logos, and product names mentioned in this post are the trademarks and/or copyrights of their respective owners. Other publicly traded companies mentioned in this post include Motorola Inc. [MOT], Palm Inc. [PALM], and Nokia [NOK].

This post was written by Jeff H., vice-president of business operations for SmarterTools. If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to the SmarterTools Blog so you don’t miss an update.

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Taking Email to Five Nines Spam Protection: Why Commtouch with SmarterMail?

July 10, 2009 by

Since the SmarterMail 6.x BETA announcement, we have received a lot of interest regarding the coming ability  to include Commtouch Anti-Spam as a premium spam protection add-on to SmarterMail. After all, SmarterMail currently achieves up to 97% spam protection out-of-the-box. Where do you go from there?

The answer lies in the prevalence of spam and the constantly evolving threat that spammers represent. Recent statistics suggest that 90.4% of all email traffic (by count) is spam—a staggering number to be sure. In most businesses, achieving 97% performance might be seen as a big success—and actually, it is.

Email has become a mission-critical application that directly impacts productivity and—at the same time—is a very personal, almost intimate, method of communication. If a user receives 20 real or “wanted” messages per day, his mailbox is being hit with about 180 spam messages per day. Blocking 97% of spam means that you are stopping 174.6 of the “unwanted” emails. Unfortunately, what the user sees is a mailbox with 20 “good” messages and 5 to 6 “bad” ones. In the eyes of that end user (or, more to the point, your CEO), more than 20% of the received mail is spam.

So, for every 1% improvement in total spam prevention, the end user will actually perceive that improvement to be near 7%. This can make all the difference to busy executives and demanding hosting customers. If companies like SmarterTools and Commtouch can work together to keep at least 99.5% of spam out of inboxes—which our testing suggests can be achieved—that extra 2 to 3% of spam caught will result in the perception that spam protection is approaching five nines.

SmarterMail 5.x already incorporates more than a dozen antispam measures, including:

  • SpamAssassin
  • Greylisting
  • Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
  • DomainKeys
  • Custom Headers
  • Bayesian Filtering
  • Reverse Domain Name Server (DNS)
  • Real-Time Blacklist (RBL)
  • Blacklist/Whitelist
  • SMTP Blocking
  • Per-user Spam Weighting

The new SmarterMail 6.x—now in full BETA test—builds upon this solid base with a new proprietary pattern-matching engine based upon SpamAssassin technology, enhancements to greylisting, DKIM, and more. These improvements will undoubtedly increase SmarterMail’s already impressive performance, but SmarterTools decided that we could do more to help users keep spam out of their inboxes.

Choosing a Spam Protection Partner

Late last year, we set out to evaluate the possible addition of new and/or third-party technology to allow for even better spam protection for our customers.  We had some basic criteria:

  • The proposed technology had to show real, measurable improvements that delivered value
  • The licensing model had to be flexible and able to accommodate our existing licensing model for SmarterMail
  • The technology should be complimentary—meaning that spam solutions that duplicated or mirrored one or several of our existing antispam measures should be avoided

SmarterTools evaluated more than a half dozen technologies before deciding on Commtouch. Many were solid enough, but had antispam measures very similar to the sets that were currently in SmarterMail out-of-the-box. Others relied too much on visitor scoring, which can be unreliable, spotty, and at times conflicted (sometimes one man’s spam is another man’s valuable news).

Why We Chose Commtouch

Commtouch uses a world-wide network of detection devices to identify spam threats in real time based upon their internal analytics. This method of distributed collection, sometimes referred to as sniffing, allows the Commtouch technology to identify spam with a very high degree of certainty when spam outbreaks are in the earliest stages. Commtouch then processes these messages to quickly distinguish spam from newsletters, feeds, and “wanted” advertisements. For customers that  purchase the Commtouch add-on, SmarterMail is alerted to the specific spam threat in real time. In many cases, the Commtouch spam identification is learned and scored before the first spam message has even been read by an user. This type of remote sniffing technology seemed to be the best fit.

Commtouch did a good job of matching their licensing and terms to fit our customer base and product levels. They are also a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: CTCH) with a solid history and reputation. They have a proven model, reliable metrics, and a history of being able to manage the loads of both large hosting companies and small to medium sized businesses (SMBs). In a nutshell, Commtouch:

  • Is a good technology fit
  • Has a good reputation
  • Offers a proven protection model
  • Worked with SmarterTools to develop a flexible licensing model

Now in BETA

Want to try the Commtouch premium spam protection and Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync add-ons for 30 days?  Then sign up for the free BETA test of SmarterMail 6.xtoday.  The trial add-ons  can be activated from within the software during the BETA period. For more information about SmarterTools’ BETA program, please refer to theBETA Release FAQs.

This post was written by Tiffany D., a marketing and technical communications specialist for SmarterTools. If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to the SmarterTools Blog so you don’t miss an update.

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