Even the most advanced intranet systems cannot reliably keep tracking and audit records. This is because of several inherent flaws in the structure of basic e-mail. Basic e-mail was never designed to be used as a transactional business tool.
email2 can be deployed in conjunction with an existing company intranet and functions primarily to track incoming and outgoing messages, as well as to keep guaranteeable audit records, often a key aspect of new regulatory acts.
email2 also functions as a second layer of security. If the company intranet is ever compromised for whatever reason, the email2 PEN and all the data stored on it will remain safe.
A PEN, or Private Email Network, is the server aspect of the email2 system. Software runs on a physical server or a group of physical servers, creating the central hub of all email2 communication using that specific PEN. A group of users belong to a PEN and can communicate amongst one another using the email2 Toolbar or web client interface. Data travels exclusively between users and their selected PEN, never falling into a non-controlled environment.
Depending on the security and privacy settings of a specific PEN, members of the PEN may be allowed to invite outside users to join and communicate. In the case of a private, company-based PEN, membership can be limited to employees, or even groups of employees.
As a company, you can deploy as many PENs as you would like. For example, you could have a single PEN for all internal communication, or separate PENs for the marketing, research and development departments.
// Edited June 2009