HiWAAY: Information/Internet Services

January 23, 2002 (Huntsville, Ala.) - HiWAAY Internet Services has introduced a new spam filtering service, AnteSpam, available to businesses and individuals that have their own domains for email addresses. AnteSpam is available to hosting, co-location and connection customers, regardless of who provides their Internet service.

"The AnteSpam feature will drastically reduce the amount of unsolicited, unwanted, 'junk' mail (spam) an Internet domain receives ," said Andy Dorman, network manager for HiWAAY Internet Services.

"AnteSpam will filter junk email for individuals and companies with their own domain, give them almost complete control over the filtering via a Web interface and will not require them to install anything on their computers," Dorman explained. "They can sign up with HiWAAY to use AnteSpam, and within a business day, their junk email (spam) should be almost completely eliminated. Of course, no system is 100 percent effective, but AnteSpam does an outstanding job."

AnteSpam uses multiple redundant servers to ensure that mail will not be refused or lost. It is monitored 24 hours a day seven days a week, and system administrators are automatically notified if there is a problem. The same multiple servers are designed to share the email load and keep processing times fast. Filtered email is retained for 14 days before being permanently deleted.

AnteSpam allows customers to control the sensitivity of the junk email detection engine to have AnteSpam sideline more or less junk email. It may be turned off or on temporarily for a domain. It allows customers to review sidelined email to ensure no valuable email is accidentally filtered and deleted. AnteSpam can protect both primary and backup email servers.

An AnteSpam client's email is sent directly to an AnteSpam server, where spam is filtered before it ever reaches the customer's server. This reduces the load on the customer's server, freeing up bandwidth for legitimate business. This works through a DNS (domain name services) change performed by the administrator of the account, thus eliminating the need to install software.

AnteSpam has a pass list and a block list feature that allows the user even greater control. The user may enter email addresses they don't want blocked on the pass list. With the block list, the user may block individual email addresses and/or entire domains. If there are individual addresses in the pass list that have a blocked domain name, the pass list will override the block, and emails from the individual(s) on the pass list will not be filtered out.

"HiWAAY is excited to be able to offer this service," said Ann Yelle, HiWAAY's director of marketing. "AnteSpam is designed to save time, give customers control of their email and reduce email abuse."

Hosting, co-location and connection customers have the option of purchasing AnteSpam for a flat monthly fee per domain. There is a basic AnteSpam package available and an advanced option. The advanced package allows the administrator of the account to create password-protected folders to give control to specified individuals over their respective mailboxes.

HiWAAY Internet Services is full-service ISP providing individual and business dial-up and dedicated Internet access, Web server solutions and Web design services. HiWAAY was established in 1994 to serve the North Alabama region and has grown to become Alabama's largest ISP, now offering access covering most of the state. HiWAAY is locally owned and operated in Alabama. For more information about HiWAAY, visit the HiWAAY Web site at www.hiwaay.net or call 888/244-9229.