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John Whelan and his agency had to serve many masters. The GWAVA product was very good for him.

John Whelan serves many masters. Service, his agency advises other departments and agencies about designing, implementing and managing computer services. This is no mean task, given the diverse needs of a government serving 8.1 million citizens spread over 48,711 square miles.

The Situation

His agency doesn't offer prescriptive, one-size-fits-all services. They consult with the government agency asking for help, find out what the needs are and tailor-make recommendations. "It's more of a carrot than stick," he explains.Having been in IT since 1990, Whelan is well-placed to make recommendations. "It feels like 100 years. Those were internet years."The demands upon his service are many. The Information Technology Services assists state bodies as varied as the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety to the Office of the Governor, the Department of Health and Human Services. Having seen, tested and used a variety of e-security products, Mr Whelan asserts that GWAVA is both cost effective and technologically effective for public sector services.Not every department or agency in the State's many agencies uses GroupWise or Netware. Some use Linux and Windows. But those that do use GroupWise operate thousands of mailboxes. This inevitably means that spam is a problem. "It would be a lot larger if not for GWAVA," Mr Whelan observes.While it is impossible for electronic communications to put up signs like the "no junk mail" stickers one can on a physical mail box, "GWAVA gets pretty close to that."

The Solution

The heuristics engine examines more than words and phrases used in e-mails. It examines the mail s characteristics. GWAVA examines much more than the language within an e-mail. It analyzes how a mail is formatted, how it is structured, and its headers. This subtle, flexible technology is well suited to the real world where government agencies and departments have to keep their e-mail addresses open to the public.The IT agency also assists the North Carolina Community College with its e-mail service."We're talking about thousands of mail boxes there," Mr Whelan explains. In that system there are approximately 20 MTAs. Given the sheer variety of e-mail users in state agencies—students, civil servants, dministrators—the ability to filter intelligently is a must."Your rule sets work as you'd expect them," Mr Whelan explains. "And in the software business, that's exceptional."

Deciding Factors

"Your product had the most functionality," Mr Whelan's recalls the reasons for selecting GWAVA after testing it. "It seemed to be the most stable and it's borne out."Another factor was GWAVA's third-party anti-virus integration.GWAVA operates seamlessly with third-party anti-virus software to scan all e-mail traffic—inbound and outbound. Because GWAVA operates on the network architecture level, viruses outbreaks are stopped before data and time is lost. This is critical in government where services have to be provided.The latest generation of viruses show up cleverly disguised as other file types like TXT or another extension. GWAVA's Fingerprinting feature examines files to see what type they really are. GWAVA also offers attachment blocking so that common virus file types are not delivered."Actually, that was the piece that worried me the most and it works the best," Mr Whelan remarks. In fact, he recently supervised of a GroupWise system's anti-virus software and reports that GWAVA accommodated the change with ease.

Conclusion

"You're in a growth industry," Mr. Whelan observes. He continues: "I'd say at least half of the e-mail people try to send me is junk and much of that doesn't get through."

Background 

GWAVA is the leading eSecurity software for Novell GroupWise. Post office level scanning allows GWAVA to monitor all e-mail in GroupWise 6 to ensure communication is both virus and spam free."GWAVA is uniquely focused on eSecurity software for Novell GroupWise," notes Charles Taite, Chief Technology Officer for GWAVA, makers of GWAVA. "We have made a conscious decision to invest resources in Novell and its GroupWise platform. Thanks to Novell and DeveloperNet's invaluable assistance, we have been able to build GWAVA: a tightly integrated YES Tested & Approved eSecurity solution for GroupWise. The rapid adoption of GWAVA, and the very positive response from the GroupWise community, is proof-positive of the value of working with DeveloperNet and Novell's YES Testing program to develop high-quality solutions for Novell platforms."www.GWAVA.com