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 a clear link between the AppRiver-Akamai relationship and AppRiver's unrivaled ability to provide businesses with fast, reliable hosted Microsoft® Exchange. In particular, the results demonstrated that AppRiver's Akamai-enabled hosted Exchange service can improve mobile e-mail performance by up to 50 percent.

Interfering factors like Internet congestion and cell network issues can negatively affect e-mail performance, impacting the demands of today's increasingly mobile workforce. AppRiver is the first Microsoft Exchange hosting provider to embed the Akamai global distribution platform into its secure service. As a result, AppRiver customers receive faster connectivity and more reliable performance from both wireline and wireless business e-mail at no additional cost.

"After facing serious reliability issues with our previous Exchange hosting provider, we switched in 2007 to AppRiver's Exchange service and immediately saw a remarkable difference," said Brett Corporon, systems architect at the Colorado State Supreme Court. "With AppRiver, we have experienced no e-mail downtime. Our staff attorneys can easily send and receive secure e-mail messages containing confidential case information using their PCs or mobile devices."

"AppRiver's relationship with Akamai is an excellent example of how network optimization can create a differentiated and improved IT service - in this case hosted Exchange," said Peter Christy, principal analyst, Internet Research Group. "By optimizing the connection from e-mail user to server, Akamai enables AppRiver to deliver consistently fast, reliable service to customers. These optimizations are completely transparent to the hosted e-mail user and significantly improve the user's experience, especially on longer connection paths."

Gomez's mobile monitoring solution was used to test performance levels of communication to AppRiver-enhanced mobile devices with, and without, Akamai acceleration over U.S.-based mobile broadband networks. The series of tests simulated users with identical login credentials, signing into their Exchange accounts, and running through a typical Exchange transaction. Response times were tracked at three designated U.S. mobile testing nodes (Boston, Chicago, and Seattle) within each major U.S. cell carrier's network.

Key findings include:

Speed and Reliability

The amount of time it takes users to connect and sync with Exchange was reduced by half when using the Akamai-enabled AppRiver Secure hosted Exchange solution. Connection speeds degrade the further away a user is from the origin server, leaving a network to lose up to 25 percent of data packets that transverse its links, causing mobile devices to hang or lose connectivity. Since AppRiver is not at the mercy of the Internet and its many bottlenecks, AppRiver 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 what was happening on the Internet.

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

Mobile worker support. Mobile device users receive secure, on-the-go access to information, including e-mail, calendars and tasks. The AppRiver hosted Exchange offering dramatically improves worker productivity by allowing for 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. The private network acts as a "secure perimeter," which 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.

"By implementing Akamai's IP Application Accelerator service, AppRiver securely provides fast and reliable hosted e-mail for both wireline and mobile users," said Willie Tejada, vice president of application and site acceleration, Akamai. "Akamai improves the overall global experience for mobile device users by optimizing the Internet and minimizing the impact introduced by oversubscribed wireless networks."

To view graphical test results, please click here.