Service Announcement
We are delighted to announce that the IT\norwich Simple SMTP Service has now been formally added to our Service Catalogue. If you would like to purchase the service or need support on it, please contact us in the normal way.
Service Name
IT\norwich Simple SMTP Service
Service Dates
We’ve offered this service for many years on a casual basis however we formally added it to our Service Catalogue in March 2017. We anticipate this to be a long term service offer.
Service Description
The IT\norwich Simple SMTP Service offers a quick and easy way to connect devices such as scanners, copiers, and certain programs that require outbound email to a quick and reliable mail server.
Service Mandate
Some devices and software need to be configured with an SMTP account in order to send email to the outside world. For example our AVG Admin Console servers and BackupAssist servers need a way to send alerts and logs to us by email. Devices such as scanners and copiers configured with scan to email also need an SMTP account*. While it’s possible to use the SMTP features of existing mailboxes, this is not always ideal in terms of security, and also means if a mailbox password is changed or a mailbox deleted, your devices need reconfiguration. It is for these reasons we will from time to time provision a dedicated SMTP account.
* There are some scenarios where a dedicated SMTP account e.g. scanner@yourdomain.co.uk is desirable, in this case we’ll let you know though this typically attracts a higher cost.
Service Features
Use the IT\norwich Simple SMTP Service for any program or device where you need an outbound mail feed.
Simple, Reliable SMTP Server
SMTP – or Simple Mail Transport Protocol – has been around for an extraordinarily long time. It’s the way that most email is transported around the internet and it’s no surprise that SMTP is the most common way for programs and devices to send email. Any scanner or copier will be compatible with SMTP and most programs that need to send email will be too.
Quick, Cheap, Cost Effective
Our SMTP feed is priced at £12 per year per account. Most customers only need one or two accounts. We will for example dedicate one SMTP account to your server(s) for the sending of alerts and log files, whilst a second account might be used for the scan to email features of your scanner or copier.
For IT Support Customers Only
We only offer this service to customers who also benefit from our IT support. We do this to ensure oversight on what the SMTP account is used for so that we can protect the mail servers from abuse.
Secure by Default
Our SMTP service supports the transfer of outbound email via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security). This means that the content of email is encrypted on its journey between the device that sends the email (e.g. your scanner) and the mail server itself. We configure this option by default.
Fast, Unlimited, Securely Hosted
The servers that house our SMTP accounts are all run on fast servers with SSD hard disks, protected with a high security cPanel on CloudLinux with CageFS so that each account is isolated to prevent disclosure and privilege escalation.
Service Pricing
Each SMTP account is priced at just £12 per account per year.
Service Notes for Customers
Please note this additional information:
Setup
It takes just a few minutes for us to set up an SMTP account and so the setup costs are equivalent to just a few pounds, added as ticket time and invoiced on our usual billing cycle.
Agreement Term
The minimum period / charge is one calendar year but you can ask us to terminate or disable the account at any time. This may mean that we will be unable to receive alerts and messages from your devices unless we reconfigure them with an alternative (and more expensive or less controllable) SMTP solution.
Notes
This page was last updated on 30th July 2021