Hotmail Aims to Can Spam
Microsoft will use Brightmail's spam-filtering technology to prevent unsolicited messages from reaching your inbox.
Scarlet Pruitt, IDG News Service
MSN Hotmail users may see a decrease in spam clogging up their inboxes in coming weeks, Microsoft said Wednesday, as it announced a deal with Brightmail to incorporate the company's spam-filter technology in its free e-mail service.
Microsoft said that it will deploy Brightmail's Solution Suite to filter spam at the incoming SMTP gateway, before it is delivered to Hotmail users' inboxes.
The spam guard will be fully deployed later this year, Microsoft said, to serve Hotmail's 110 million worldwide users.
Similar Services
The Redmond, Washington, company's spam-stymieing move is nothing new for free e-mail services, many of which have already adopted spam-fighting measures. Yahoo, for example, routes unsolicited e-mail to a bulk e-mail folder in users' inboxes.
The Brightmail solution works by leveraging a collection of more than 200 million e-mail addresses designed to attract spam, allowing Brightmail to identify and eliminate spam before it reaches users' inboxes.
San Francisco-based Brightmail to have a significant foothold on the antispam market, boasting clients such as Earthlink, AT&T WorldNet, and now MSN.
