Avirt — General-purpose POP3 mail server for mid-sized office and educational environments

Designed for the medium-sized office and educational environments, Avirt Mail Server is a store-and-forward mail server that fetches electronic mail from a larger Internet server and then redistributes the mail to an unlimited number of users. Avirt Mail Server is similar to the SOHO-targeted Avirt Rover mail server, but unlike its companion, Avirt Mail Server is designed to support more than five users.

The server can connect to other mail servers via any Internet connection (modem, ISDN, frame relay, leased line, network connection, etc.) and grabs mail at predefined intervals for local storage. You can maintain the connection as long as you need, or just long enough to grab the mail. The local users can then access their mail at their convenience.
Designed for the medium-sized office and educational environments, Avirt Mail Server is a store-and-forward mail server that fetches electronic mail from a larger Internet server and then redistributes the mail to an unlimited number of users. Avirt Mail Server is similar to the SOHO-targeted Avirt Rover mail server, but unlike its companion, Avirt Mail Server is designed to support more than five users.

The Avirt Mail Server is a relatively convenient mail server. It will employ the Windows NT security tools for providing usernames and passwords. It also runs as a service under Windows NT or as an application under Windows 95/98. As of version 3.3, both the Intel and Alpha versions of Windows NT are supported. The server is configured using an application running in the Control Panel. Currently there is no remote Web-based configuration available. The server can be configured to work with proxies, and there’s connection logging to make sure that your scheduling connections are occurring.

The latest release of Avirt Mail Server adds a number of important new features, including Inter-office mail support (send mail across your local network without the need for an external SMTP server), domain aliasing (create multiple mailboxes with only one ISP POP account), server side filtering, urgent SMTP delivery, and advanced audit logging capabilities. A variety of language translations have also been made available with the new release. English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, and Portuguese versions of the server are currently available.

At $199.95 for an unlimited number of users, the Avirt Mail Server offers limited features at a relatively high price. Additional editions are available in the form of a $49.95 5-user license, a $99.95 10-user license, and a $139.95 unlimited user Educational license. Overall, even with significant improvements in the latest releases of Avirt, a number of mail servers are available that cost less, offer better features, and are easier to use than Avirt, making this server a tough recommendation for most situations.

Pros: Easy to configure, Cuts down on individual connections to a larger mail server, Supports an unlimited number of users (in the $199.95 version)

Cons: Limited security features, Lacks support for IMAP4 and LDAP services, No remote browser-based administration, Lacks Anti-SPAM support