Email has been under attack. Abuse in the form of spam and "phishing" (fraud) has cost billions to both senders and receivers. Moreover, it has shaken consumer's confidence in this revolutionary (now essential) communications medium.

While much attention has been given to the cost and aggravation incurred by receivers of email, the pain caused to senders has also been staggering. Various studies estimate the cost of "false positives" to US businesses is billions of dollars each year. Online fraud alone costs banks over $2 billion.

The root cause of this crisis is that the underlying architecture of email was not designed to support the extent of its current use. As such, the original email protocols lacked important security measures, making email easy to exploit.

The shortcomings of the original email system are being overcome through new standards, policies and technologies. To support these new practices, a new email ecosystem is taking shape. In effect, we are ushering in a new generation of email that works better for all: senders, receivers, businesses, consumers, organizations and individuals.

While all components of email will eventually be impacted by the updates to the system, this new generation of email is built upon three key building blocks:

• Authentication (reliable identification of senders)
• Accreditation (certification and assurance of e-mail practices)
• Reputation (reliable and transparent user feedback)

As these enhancements are adopted, email will become more manageable and trustworthy. Through these mechanisms, consumers will be given the tools to ultimately determine the type of e-mail they want to receive and the class of senders with whom they want to communicate. Senders, in turn, will be held accountable for their actions and will be provided real time feedback from recipients. It will be much more difficult for spammers and thieves to abuse the system.

The journey to the next generation of email is well underway. Several authentication standards have been proposed for which adoption is at various stages. Reputation is fast becoming the prevalent method used by anti-spam solutions and ISPs to filter mail. And, accreditation services are gaining traction among legitimate senders and receiving ISPs.

These new approaches are becoming the norm. Those who rely on email for their businesses are moving quickly to reap the benefits of the new model. However, since the industry is in transition, users should expect that there will be additional changes along the way. For both senders and receivers this journey will be challenging at times. New standards and practices will add some complexity. New approaches and methods will require new tools and new perspectives.

Port25's mission is to enable the future of email, by providing senders with the tools and capabilities needed to address the adoption challenges and be effective in this evolving landscape. To meet these needs, we believe that email infrastructure itself is undergoing a fundamental shift.

As email becomes more secure and more essential, email delivery is becoming more dynamic and more complex. The days of getting results by simply blasting email using a generic, freeware email server are long gone. Effective email delivery is hard work that requires specialized tools and infrastructure.

To support the requirements of the new ecosystem, the outbound gateway needs to be both intelligent and inter-connected with third party services and information sources. As email communications becomes even more important to senders and receivers, the reliability and monitoring of outbound email becomes more critical. As email marketing becomes more tightly coupled with core marketing activities, integration and personalization become essential.

PowerMTA™ is the only outbound email gateway designed specifically to address the needs of senders in the next generation of email. PowerMTA is the first email gateway that provides the features and tools that help senders adopt and manage the new dimensions of email delivery - authentication, accreditation and reputation.

Port25 Solutions is the smart choice for your outbound email infrastructure because we understand the problems you face as a legitimate sender and we are committed to solving these problems today and into the future.