Dell and Symantec collaborate on secure email

Symantec and Dell have announced a joint move into the Microsoft Exchange secure email market.

The antivirus company and the computer manufacturer have collaborated to produce Secure Exchange, an email management system which includes hardware, software, and services for email security, backup, recovery and archiving.

"Dell and Symantec bring together integrated hardware, software and services to help customers regain control of rapidly growing email environments while handling increasingly demanding compliance requirements," said Stephen Murdoch, vice president of Solutions and Services, Dell EMEA.

Secure Exchange is made up of Dell PowerEdge servers, PowerVault storage, Dell/EMC storage and Symantec software, including Symantec Mail Security 8200 Series, Symantec Mail Security for Microsoft Exchange, Symantec Enterprise Vault, and Backup Exec.

The product will be available in autumn 2006 in Europe, Dell said. Secure Exchange will be sold by Dell, with customers supported by both Dell and Symantec.

Dell claims the product will be compatible with the upcoming Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

Relations between Symantec and Microsoft are currently strained due to differences over whether Microsoft Security Center, which manages the security tools, should have an uninstall option in Vista so users can install third party security centres.

Symantec, McAfee, Check Point Software Technologies and other companies want Microsoft to change Vista so their products can easily replace the operating system's built-in Windows Security Center on the desktop. But Microsoft is resisting the call.