Mimecast Unified Email Management
Fiberlink
Price: Varies by company size; $5/seat per month for 5,000 seats

Email security has become a complex affair. Spam continues to grow as an operational issue, and email-borne malware and phishing attacks persist. Archiving requirements, legal discovery rules, data loss prevention and the sheer volume of messages have created a management monster.

Mimecast offers a multifaceted SaaS package as demand for email services grows and the vendor landscape consolidates. Most of the major players have been acquired: FrontBridge (Microsoft), Postini (Google) and, most recently, MessageLabs (Symantec), leaving independent MX Logic.Mimecast is banking on offering what it says is the most comprehensive service package, including antispam, antivirus, archiving and storage management, e-discovery a...

"There are no tradeoffs in terms of control," says Peter Bauer, Mimecast chief executive. "Customers use the service as if they are the only users.We incorporate important enterprise features, such as Active Directory integration and sophisticated audit logging."

Email services have growing appeal. Regulatory requirements are driving archiving in the face of increasing volume. Revised FRCP rules put pressure on organizations to perform complete, fast e-discovery-at astronomical costs.

Mimecast also promises business continuity; if a customer's Exchange Server goes down, end users can still receive email from Mimecast.

Mimecast entered the North American market in February. It faces stiff competition in services, given Microsoft's and Symantec's muscle and Google's aggressive pricing packages

--NEIL ROITER