LINUXFORCE SERVICE: E-Mail Protection anti-spam, anti-virus managed e-mail services

ORGANIZATION:  Genji, Inc.

DESCRIPTION: Established in 1997 as a gourmet take-out sushi bar and catering operator in Philadelphia, Genji, Inc. now operates sushi bars and provides Japanese infused Asian cuisine at over 80 venues in 15 East Coast states, the District of Columbia, and London, United Kingdom. The company's core business is to provide its unique, high-quality cuisine at various venues including: supermarkets, hospitals and university cafeterias, gourmet specialty food stores and sports complexes. Genji also operates direct retail stores serving its original line of sushi products, bento boxes, appetizers, salads, and other Japanese infused Asian dishes, which are prepared on-site and fresh daily. In order to facilitate its growing operation on the East Coast, Genji now operates state-of-the-art kitchen facilities in New York and Philadelphia.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE: Keeping up with the IT demands required to support its rapid business growth put a strain on Genji's scant IT staff and on company financial resources. Genji initially hosted and managed its own e-mail server and services. It then outsourced the hosting of its e-mail services to a third-party. Still, Genji experienced numerous problems including: Insufficient storage capacity per user and administrative flexibility, ineffective e-mail, Web and database security, lack of secure connectivity between its Philadelphia and New York offices, and excessive overhead costs - both in terms of hard dollars and staff time - to maintain and manage the e-mail system, lack of a plan to support the company's rapid growth.

LINUXFORCE SOLUTION: Migration of unsatisfactory, third-party hosted e-mail services to a new, customized e-mail protection service designed by LinuxForce. Planning and implementation of an in-house e-mail system including: Configuration and implementation of a Debian Linux-based e-mail server for incoming and outgoing SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) mail delivery, implementation of transport layer security (TLS) to encrypt mail delivery, customization and implementation of Web-based e-mail access (SquirrelMail) and to provide multi-language support (Japanese), and implementation of FOSS (Free and Open Source) based anti-virus and anti-spam solutions and other concomitant multi-layered security technology. Ongoing maintenance, monitoring and support for all e-mail services via LinuxForce's Remote Responder(SM).

RESULTS: The customized e-mail protection system is significantly more robust, stable, manageable, secure and scalable than Genji's earlier in-house and outsourced mail systems. The new system's multi-tiered, anti-malware functionality has virtually eliminated Genji's previous spam and virus problems. Bounced e-mails due to insufficient end-user e-mail storage have been eliminated. The flexible user and password administration support provide Genji's staff the tools needed to easily manage these tasks in-house. In-house IT staff can now focus on activities that can directly support Genji's corporate strategy and revenue growth. IT overhead costs have been reduced.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE: LinuxForce has proven to be an invaluable asset to our business. Their expertise, products and proactive approach to keeping our systems up and running at peak performance have made it possible for us to focus our in- house IT resources on work that directly benefits Genji's continued growth, rather than on maintaining our e-mail system. When we contact them with an issue, we get very quick results. And because they track our systems 24/7, they often spot a problem or potential problem and fix it before we're even aware of it. Their services easily pay for themselves. As a result, we've expanded our initial relationship with LinuxForce. They're now helping us implement new IT services, while continuing to optimize our current systems. -- James Ankney, IS Development Manager, Genji, Inc.