Comparison between On-Premise and Cloud Anti-Spam Solutions

Anti-Spam services at their most basic level are intended to eradicate spam from enterprise networks. This can be both a costly and time consuming process.

There are two options available to manage this problem: on-premise and cloud-based. Let's compare the two.

On-premise

In this traditional approach, enterprises with dedicated IT staff would manage this process in-house. At a minimum, this would involve the purchase of one server, depending on the size of the organization, maybe more. Hardware maintenance agreements may also have to be secured.

Office space would have to be allocated for the equipment and software licenses would have to be purchased. As these licenses aren't scalable, you may be stuck purchasing more licenses than you actually need. Finally, staff would have to be trained and dedicated, at least partially, to this activity.

With this option, price and complexity stand out as the biggest drawbacks.

Cloud-based

In this modern scenario, an organization would only need to evaluate potential cloud service providers, select a vendor and purchase the service. With this option, eliminating the hardware and staff alone may represent significant savings. Coupled with more flexible terms and lack of ongoing maintenance, all point to simplified management and lowered costs.

The most cited issue with cloud-based services is security. The perception is that if the service is not maintained in-house, there is a level of uncertainty as to how well the service provider can protect your data. Yet many vendors in this space have established and verifiable track records with regard to security. And contract terms including service level agreements can ensure compliance with existing company security policies.

Based on these factors, cloud-based service should be considered as a viable alternative to in-house solutions. Optional services like encryption and data loss protection; web filtering can also be attractive add-ons.

This guest post was provided by Veronica Henry on behalf of GFI Software Ltd. GFI is a leading software developer that provides a single source for network administrators to address their network security, content security and messaging needs. More information about GFI MAX MailProtection, hosted email security solution can be found at http://www.gfi.com/hosted-email-security. Image credit under CC license.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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