I'm delighted to announce that we have shipped the latest update to Symantec Brightmail Gateway.
The v8.0.3 release is a really important one as we get closer and closer to releasing version 9.0 next year.
This update includes support for VMWare vSphere 4.0 as well as fixing over 75 bugs.
This most important thing to note about this release however, is that it will be a pre-requisite version prior to upgrading to the forthcoming version 9.0.
In the simplest terms:
When 9.0 is released, it will ONLY be available for upgrade from 8.0.3.
If you are on 8.0.2 or older, you will NOT be able to upgrade directly to 9.0.
The release notes for 8.0.3 are attached to this post, go forth and upgrade.
As well as meeting up with as many customers as possible, the Gateway Security PM Team (which comprises Brightmail gateway and the new-ish Symantec Web Gateway) like to hold Customer Advisory Boards.
We hold these every six months or so and they give our customers the chance to come together (usually between 10 and 20 in total) to:
Learn and discuss about implementations, experiences and operational best practices.
Provide your feedback and input on what Symantec plans to deliver in upcoming product releases
Make useful contacts by meeting up face to face with your peers from other companies and discuss openly together how you solve real world implementation challenges.
Our next round of them start next month:
November 5th - Reading
November 9th - Munich
November 10th - Tokyo
November 11th - Paris
November 11th - Beijing
November 13th - Singapore
November...
Over the last couple of years, as a Product team working on Brightmail, we have really increased our efforts to gather as much information from customers as possible.
Talking to customers about what they need do today and how they do it, how they envisage doing it in the future, as well as how they deal with different security threats whether it's around inbound email malware or Data Loss Prevention.
Last week I met with the top IT guys for one of our Enterprise Security customers, to talk about future projects they are running and how Symantec Enterprise Security products fit into their internal roadmap. I first visited them last summer on a whirlwind tour of customers in Europe.
Besides being a great week long roadtrip and building relationships with the guys in the field that I don't often get to meet face to face, we had some really interesting discussions with customers about their requirements and futures.
Now, one of the thing I like to do when...
Here's some information you should be aware of before upgrading to the forthcoming Symantec Brightmail Gateway 8.0.2 release.
//Ian
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Notification type: New version will be available – Important information to read prior to updating on VMware environments
Product: Symantec Brightmail Gateway
Version: 8.0.1
Patch: 8.0.2
Other Hardware/Software/Environment: VMware ESX Server 3.0.2 or prior with virtual LSI SCSI controller
Overview:
Action required for customers using Virtual Edition of Symantec Brightmail Gateway and VMware ESX Server 3.0.2 or prior with virtual LSI SCSI controller. Prior to updating to 8.0.2., Symantec is strongly recommending that customers assure themselves that they are current with VMware 3.5 or later prior to upgrading to Brightmail Gateway 8.0.2 to prevent loss of functionality. An alternative workaround is provided if VMware 3.5 is not available.
I'm delighted to announce the release of our first update to the Brightmail Gateway 8.0 release.
Version 8.0.1-7 should be available for direct upgrade via your Brightmail Gateway UI or CLI right away and customers can upgrade from any previous production build directly to this release. Note: If you participated in any of our previous beta programs, you CANNOT upgrade from a beta release of Brightmail Gateway.
What does this release include?
Language Packs:
This release includes translated help and documentation in: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The Getting Started guide is also translated into Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, European Portuguese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian and Spanish.
I'm in customer meetings today so this is just a very quick post to let you know that Symantec Brightmail Gateway 8.0 will be available via software update sometime after 9am PST today, March 4th 2009.
This release is pretty amazing on many fronts, from our biggest ever Beta program (thanks participants!) to the awesome performance increases and anti-spam upgrades mentioned in the articles below:
If you point your web browser to http://www.brightmail.com/IQServices you'll see our new online portal providing email security data to Brightmail administrators, email administrators and the general public.
The Global Intelligence Network is a core part of the Brightmail product family. It feeds data to Symantec Brightmail Operations, providing the breadth and depth of the global mailflow knowledge which drives the fantastic antispam effectiveness.
Symantec Brightmail IQ Services provides a window into the data we hold, informing users of the latest messaging trends, and allowing them to query their email sending reputation in real time.
Keep an eye on the trending volumes of spam, the most popular categories and spam content types as well as monitoring the global top mail senders and top spam senders.
