AppRiver, LLC, a leading provider of e-mail messaging and Web security solutions, today reported results of a performance evaluation using the mobile performance monitoring testing solutions from Compuware Gomez. The Gomez data showed AppRiver's Akamai-optimized Microsoft Exchange solution reduced the amount of time it takes for mobile users across Europe and Asia Pacific to connect to Exchange by 65 percent.

E-mail performance is increasingly significant as corporate workforces become more mobile. But with interfering factors like Internet congestion and cell network issues, global e-mail performance can become seriously impaired. To solve latency and connectivity issues, AppRiver partnered with Akamai to deliver fast, reliable and secure e-mail to customers.

"As a mobile company with a global footprint, e-mail is a mission critical application for us," said Tom Przybylak, director of IT at Midwood Financial Services. "No matter where our users are in the world or what devices they are using-iPhone, Blackberry, Android or any other smartphone-the e-mail experience with AppRiver is consistently fast and reliable, and our subscription cost remains low with the added benefit of Akamai integration. We have nearly eliminated support calls and have the peace of mind that our transactions are not only fast, but also secure in the highly regulated financial industry we operate in."

Gomez's mobile monitoring solution tested e-mail performance on AppRiver-enhanced mobile devices, both with and without Akamai acceleration, over Europe and Asia Pacific-based mobile broadband networks. A four-week series of tests simulated users with identical login credentials signing into their Exchange accounts and running through typical Exchange transactions, including checking e-mail messages, calendar items, notes and downloading a message attachment. Response times were tracked at six designated mobile testing nodes in London, UK; Hamburg, Germany; Chengdu, China; Xian, China, and two data points in Beijing, China. All transactions occurred to and from these European and Asia Pacific locations within four different cell carriers' networks. To view graphical test results, please click here.

"An industry first, AppRiver has integrated Akamai Application Performance Solutions to achieve dramatic improvements in connectivity and performance, especially for global and wireless e-mail users," said Willie M. Tejada, vice president of application and site acceleration, Akamai. "Users of AppRiver's Hosted Exchange Service with Akamai Application Performance Solutions enjoy consistent system performance and availability whether they're located close to the data center or halfway around the world, even with wireless connections."

Key findings include:

Speed and Reliability

The time for users to connect and sync with Exchange was reduced by 65 percent with Akamai-enabled AppRiver Secure Hosted Exchange solution.Connection speeds degrade the further away a user is from the origin server, causing networks to lose up to 25 percent of data packets, and mobile devices to hang or lose connectivity. Since AppRiver is not at the mercy of common Internet bottlenecks, customers enjoy one-of-a-kind, optimized hosted Exchange.AppRiver Exchange customers received clear, consistent e-mail delivery over a variety of wireless networks, regardless of their location or Internet conditions.

The AppRiver-Akamai offering contributes to several strategic objectives for any enterprise, including:

Mobile worker support. Providing secure, on-the-go access to information, including e-mail, calendars and tasks. The AppRiver hosted Exchange offering dramatically improves worker productivity by allowing seamless e-mail access, with no performance problems, regardless of how or where an end-user checks their messages.Secure e-mail delivery. AppRiver and Akamai privatize the connection between the user and the Exchange server(s) in order to create a high-speed virtual private network for AppRiver customers, acting as a "secure perimeter" that eliminates public entry points to cloud infrastructures. AppRiver Exchange also provides the award-winning SecureTide™ Spam and Virus Protection, keeping users safe from spam, viruses and other malicious threats.