CB Richard Ellis Gunne, which was recently acquired by CBRE, operates from offices in Dublin and Belfast and employs over 105 staff. Audrey Palmer who heads up the IT function manages the IT infrastructure in conjunction with a range of permanent and contract staff.  Email is one of the single biggest tools for the staff in CB Richard Ellis Gunne.  According to Palmer, if the file server went down, there might be some complaints but if the email server went down, the help desk would be inundated with calls.

“Our staff live by their email, be it at their desk or via their blackberries,” explains Palmer.  “Not only is it an indispensable tool in their armoury, it is increasing complex with images and audio files frequently transmitted.  At the start of this year, we had a serious issue with our incumbent firewall protection in that it checked for viruses but did not look for SPAM.”

Working with New Wave Computer Services, which has been on contract with CB Richard Ellis Gunne for many years, Palmer evaluated what was on offer and soon found the Barracuda box distributed by Commtech met their needs.

Eric Cockram, Technical Director at New Wave Computer Services, assisted in the evaluation process.  “Property consultants live by their email and mobile communications.  The SPAM traffic was crippling CB Richard Ellis Gunne’s network capacity.  Something had to give.”

Since the installation of the Barracuda box in January, Palmer has monitored some 565,000 incoming mails in six months with many more outgoing mails.  Despite the volume of traffic, the new solution has worked tremendously well for the company.

“The Barracuda Spam Firewall is available in five models and supports from 1,000 to 30,000 active users with no per user licensing fees making it very attractive to mid size companies,” says Justin Owens, managing director of Commtech.  “In addition, the Barracuda Spam Firewall can be installed in front of the email server in typically less than five minutes and is automatically updated hourly to block new forms of spam and viruses.” 

“Unlike software solutions, the Barracuda Spam Firewall reduces the load placed on the email server by off-loading both spam and virus filtering,” he added.

Palmer is no stranger to testing updated solutions and her IT department has recently been used by Vodafone to trail new mobile email solutions.  Putting the Barracuda product through its paces has resulted in very positive results.

“We are very happy with the product,” enthuses Palmer.  “It comes in its own self contained box meaning we have no issues in complimentary operating systems, hardware or software.  We are in control of what we allow in and what we block.   Using the Baysian filters we can also overwrite global settings and white list domains or individual user emails according to our requirements. The interface is very user friendly.  There are constant updates from the vendor.  Its checks are impressive from file types to content.  The methods of quarantining and releasing mails are also very straightforward. It is accessed via a browser so we can do it within the office or remotely.  Overall, we highly recommend it,” she says.

About Barracuda Networks, Inc.

Barracuda Networks, Inc. is the worldwide leader in anti-spam appliance solutions.  Winner of the 2004 Network Computing Editor's Choice Award and Well-Connected Award, the Barracuda Spam Firewall provides spam and virus protection for over 11,000 organizations worldwide including Caltrans, Union Pacific Railroad Company, and Washington State University.  Barracuda Networks, a privately held corporation, is headquartered in Cupertino, California with offices and distributors in over 35 countries.  For more information, please visit www.barracudanetworks.com.

About New Wave Computer Services
New Wave Computer Services is a proactive maintenance and IT consultancy provider. Now in its eight year of business New Wave have been the backbone of some of the countries largest IT rollouts.. Since the beginning of 2003 New Wave Computer Services has refocused and has now developed a proactive maintenance program for the SME market, while still managing larger client requirements through its IT consultancy programs
For more information, please visit www.nwcs.ie

About Commtech

Commtech is a leading Irish Distributor of specialist network and Internet security products and services. Partnering with key leaders in the industry, Commtech offer superior new security technology coupled with network security training and support to satisfy local market needs and requirements. 

Commtech work with a nationwide network of resellers, and Internet Service providers, supplying best of breed products such as: SonicWALL, Cyberguard, Barracuda Networks, N2H2, TUT Systems, GFI Software and Kerio Internet Security Software.

For more information, please visit www.commtech.ie.

Or call

Justin Owens    Commtech  +353 1 8091230
Jillian Godsil   PRG   + 353 55 294 55