Zix Rolls Out New Platform With Upgraded Interface, Protection

Zix has spent $20 million to develop Secure Cloud and enhance its platform and application capabilities since closing the purchase of AppRiver 14 months ago, according to CEO Dave Wagner.

Zix has combined the security and compliance offering from its 2019 acquisition of AppRiver with its own to create a single platform that safeguards digital communication tools.

The Dallas-based email security vendor said it has spent $20 million to develop Secure Cloud and enhance its platform and application capabilities since closing the purchase of Gulf Breeze, Fl.-based AppRiver 14 months ago, according to CEO Dave Wagner. Secure Cloud vastly improves upon a loose integration rolled out in July to make Zix’s intellectual property available to AppRiver partners, he said.

“Secure Cloud launches at a really interesting time where digital transformation is being accelerated by the remote workforce,” Wagner said.

[Related: Zix Leaders: Coronavirus Increases Need For Archiving Beyond Email]

The user interface for Secure Cloud is vastly improved and accessible from any device anywhere in the world, and Zix has done a lot of work to ensure the platform is aligning with user workflows, Wagner said. Secure Cloud features a tighter integration with Azure Active Directory, and Wagner said Zix is expanding its integrations later this quarter to include Autotask.

Wagner said partners will right away notice all the money Zix has put into the user interface as far as its extensibility and integrations with workflow and third-party apps are concerned.

At the application level, Wagner said a lot of work has been done to improve Secure Cloud’s advanced threat capabilities touching upon everything from sandboxing and messaging protection to integrations with SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) platforms. Up until now, Zix’s technology was mostly focused on protecting against phishing, malware and business email compromise (BEC) attacks.

Another new security feature with Secure Cloud is time of link click protection, meaning that a destination link in an email is scanned at the time the link is clicked to ensure there’s not malware on the site even if the email itself is from weeks or months earlier, Wagner said. Secure Cloud can also quarantine and remove a malicious attachment sent to multiple mailboxes in one fell swoop, he said.

Secure Cloud consists of: Secure Suites oriented around either security, compliance or productivity; the Secure Platform that brings disparate services together into a single portal; and Cyber Intelligence which includes threat analysts and machine learning to enable the platform. There is no charge associated with the Secure Platform or Cyber Intelligence, according to Zix.

The pricing for the Security Suite starts at $1 per user per month, and the pricing for the Compliance Suite starts at $2.80 per user per month, according to Zix. The productivity suite, meanwhile, includes Microsoft products offered at Microsoft’s retail price. Each of these suites is currently offered separately and sold as a license on a per-year basis, Wagner said.

Zix hopes Secure Cloud will help the company increase the number of mailboxes its protecting for partners and their end customers, and has set the goal of safeguarding eight million unique users with 16 million unique applications, Wagner said. Secure Cloud is expected to both grow the number of unique users on the Zix platform as well as help nurture and expand relationships with existing users.

Malicious actors are taking advantage of the accelerated and unplanned push to the cloud stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Scott Burba, vice president of Abel Solutions. The Alpharetta, Ga.-based solution provider has been working for many years to ensure customers understand that moving to the cloud doesn’t mean security should be ignored, Burba said.

Burba said Zix Secure Cloud is expected to deliver administrator refinements that provide better insights and analysis into what is truly happening in their customers’ cloud environments. Abel Solutions has been a Zix and AppRiver partner for more than a decade, according to Burba.

“The new Zix Secure Cloud features and capabilities couldn’t be coming at a better time for everyone,” Burba said. “We are extremely excited to see the continued evolution of their products to help our customers secure the cloud.”