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Press Release -- March 1st, 2010
Source: Akamai
Tags: Content Delivery, Exchange, Video

AppRiver’s Akamai-Optimized Microsoft Exchange Service Improves Mobile E-mail Performance by 50 Percent over Alternatives

Dana Holway
AppRiver
850-932-5338
dholway@appriver.com
–or– Jeff Young
Akamai Technologies
617-444-3913
jyoung@akamai.com

Industry’s Only Hosted Exchange Optimization Solution Increases Speed and Reliability for Mobile Broadband Users, According to Mobile Monitoring Tests

GULF BREEZE, FL and CAMBRIDGE, MA—March 1, 2010 – January 26, 2010 – AppRiver, LLC, a leading provider of e-mail messaging and Web security solutions, today reported results of a performance evaluation using the mobile performance monitoring testing solutions from Compuware Gomez. The Gomez data showed a clear link between the AppRiver-Akamai relationship and AppRiver’s unrivaled ability to provide businesses with fast, reliable hosted Microsoft® Exchange. In particular, the results demonstrated that AppRiver’s Akamai-enabled Hosted Exchange service can improve mobile e-mail performance by up to 50 percent.

Interfering factors like Internet congestion and cell network issues can negatively affect e-mail performance, impacting the demands of today’s increasingly mobile workforce. AppRiver is the first Microsoft Exchange hosting provider to embed the Akamai global distribution platform into its secure service. As a result, AppRiver customers receive faster connectivity and more reliable performance from both wireline and wireless business e-mail at no additional cost.

“After facing serious reliability issues with our previous Exchange hosting provider, we switched in 2007 to AppRiver’s Exchange service and immediately saw a remarkable difference,” said Brett Corporon, systems architect at the Colorado State Supreme Court. “With AppRiver, we have experienced no e-mail downtime. Our staff attorneys can easily send and receive secure e-mail messages containing confidential case information using their PCs or mobile devices.”

“AppRiver’s relationship with Akamai is an excellent example of how network optimization can create a differentiated and improved IT service – in this case Hosted Exchange,” said Peter Christy, principal analyst, Internet Research Group. “By optimizing the connection from e-mail user to server, Akamai enables AppRiver to deliver consistently fast, reliable service to customers. These optimizations are completely transparent to the hosted e-mail user and significantly improve the user’s experience, especially on longer connection paths.”

Gomez’s mobile monitoring solution was used to test performance levels of communication to AppRiver-enhanced mobile devices with, and without, Akamai acceleration over U.S.-based mobile broadband networks. The series of tests simulated users with identical login-credentials, signing into their Exchange accounts, and running through a typical Exchange transaction. Response times were tracked at three designated U.S. mobile testing nodes (Boston, Chicago, and Seattle) within each major U.S. cell carrier’s network.

Key findings include:
Speed and Reliability

  • The amount of time it takes users to connect and sync with Exchange was reduced by half when using the Akamai-enabled AppRiver Secure Hosted Exchange solution.
  • Connection speeds degrade the further away a user is from the origin server, leaving a network to lose up to 25 percent of data packets that transverse its links, causing mobile devices to hang or lose connectivity. Since AppRiver is not at the mercy of the Internet and its many bottlenecks, AppRiver customers enjoy one-of-a-kind, optimized hosted Exchange.
  • AppRiver Exchange customers received clear, consistent e-mail delivery over a variety of wireless networks, regardless of their location or what was happening on the Internet.

The AppRiver-Akamai offering contributes to several strategic objectives for any enterprise, including:

  • Mobile worker support. Mobile device users receive secure, on-the-go access to information, including e-mail calendars and tasks. The AppRiver hosted Exchange offering dramatically improves worker productivity by allowing for seamless email access, with no performance problems, regardless of how, or where, an end-user checks their messages.
  • Secure email delivery. AppRiver and Akamai privatize the connection between the user and the Exchange server(s) in order to create a high-speed virtual private network for AppRiver customers. The private network acts as a “secure perimeter,” which eliminates public entry points to cloud infrastructures. AppRiver Exchange also provides the award-winning SecureTide™ Spam and Virus Protection, keeping users safe from spam, viruses and other malicious threats.

“By implementing Akamai’s IP Application Accelerator service, AppRiver securely provides fast and reliable hosted e-mail for both wireline and mobile users,” said Willie Tejada, vice president of application and site acceleration, Akamai. “Akamai improves the overall global experience for mobile device users by optimizing the Internet and minimizing the impact introduced by oversubscribed wireless networks.”

To view graphical test results, please click here.

The Akamai Difference
Akamai® provides market-leading managed services for powering video, dynamic transactions, and enterprise applications online. Having pioneered the content delivery market one decade ago, Akamai’s services have been adopted by the world’s most recognized brands across diverse industries. The alternative to centralized Web infrastructure, Akamai’s global network of tens of thousands of distributed servers provides the scale, reliability, insight and performance for businesses to succeed online. Akamai has transformed the Internet into a more viable place to inform, entertain, advertise, interact, and collaborate. To experience The Akamai Difference, visit www.akamai.com.

About AppRiver
AppRiver is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider offering award-winning e-mail and Web security solutions to businesses of all sizes. Understanding the need to protect networks from today’s increasingly complex IT threats, AppRiver offers businesses a comprehensive, yet affordable subscription-based solution that incorporates the latest spam and virus protection, e-mail encryption and Web security on the market. In addition, the company provides a complete managed service for Microsoft® Exchange. Since its inception, AppRiver has sustained an impressive 95% customer retention rate while growing its customer base to more than 40,000 companies and over 6 million mailboxes worldwide. The company is led by a 2009 Ernst & Young Florida Entrepreneur of the Year award winner, and has been identified as one of the Coolest Cloud Security Vendors in 2010 by Everything Channel’s CRN magazine. For more information, please visit www.appriver.com.

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