Messaging vendors have flocked to the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week to announce products designed to help enterprises protect themselves from e-mail threats.

In addition to a number of e-mail security vendors announcing complements to their gateway filtering appliances and software at the show, a handful of companies are previewing new and upgraded products that also fall in the fast-growing category of messaging security.

Sendmail Inc. Monday announced an update to its Mailstream Content Manager software, which works with the Sendmail MTA, that includes a new anti-virus option and enhanced management capabilities.

Mailstream Content Manager provides virus and spam filtering -- both via third-party options -- as well as policy and regulatory enforcement, according to officials. Version 2.0 adds the Frisk F-Prot Antivirus engine to the list of filters the content manager works with, which include McAfee Olympus Antivirus and Cloudmark Authority Antispam engines.

Version 2.0 will also allow administrators to manage clusters of servers, deployed at an organization's gateway or internally, from one console. Mailstream Content Manager 2.0 will be released before the end of March, according to Sendmail officials. Pricing, dependant on volume, will start as low as US$1.10 per user, they say.

Sophos Tuesday announced upgrades to its security products for desktop, server and gateway that include a new type of virus and spam detection. Called Genotype, this technology uses forensic analysis to flag suspicious patterns in an enterprise's incoming e-mail flow that could be signs of a virus or spam attack, company officials say.

These enhancements will be included in updates to Sophos Anti-Virus software for clients and servers and Sophos' PureMessage gateway product by the end of the month. Both products provide anti-virus and anti-spam protection as well as e-mail policy enforcement. Pricing depends on the number of users, ranging from US$34.65 per user for organizations of up to 999 users to US$15.02 per user for companies with up to 19,999 users, officials say.

Also at the show, Proofpoint announced partnerships with four vendors to ensure interoperability between their products and Proofpoint's Protection Server software and Messaging Security Gateway appliance. Secure messaging products from Authentica Inc., PGP, PostX, and Sigaba will undergo tests to ensure they integrate with Proofpoint's offerings, according to Proofpoint officials.