Zscaler filters email along with web traffic

Security service provider Zscaler has added e-mail filtering to its web filtering product. The new service, available Monday, gives IT staff a way to manage their Web filtering and spam-blocking policies from a single place, and to integrate their web and email security reports, the company said.

IT shops have been looking at cloud computing as a way to simplify the management of what can be complex and costly systems.

Paris' CINP (Chambre Interdepartementale des Notaires de Paris) expects to bring Zscaler's web and email filtering service online for its 10,000 users by the end of August, according to Jacques Binard, the organisation's director of information systems.

After evaluating comparable appliances, CINP decided to move to Zscaler because it was more scalable, said Binard, who provides IT services to 400 offices manned by public officials who certify legal contracts. "With the cloud, it's very easy to deploy a new solution," he said.

Switching to Zscaler involved a simple switch of the company's mail domains in the DNS (Domain Name System), he said. With the group's mail filtering now offloaded to the cloud, server loads are now a third of what they were.

The integrated mail-and-web Zscaler service costs between $1 and $5 per month, per user, depending on the size of the contract. Companies can also purchase the web or email services standalone if they prefer.