Email Security Smooth Email Communications for Continentall

Global Challenges – Concentration on Core Competencies

Continental is one of the leading international automotive suppliers. The automotive industry is a sector in which competitive pressures are so great that growth can only be achieved through technological leadership. Long-term success against a background of keen global competition is only possible by concentrating on one‘s own competencies and by outsourcing those services and processes which are not directly related to these competencies.

Greater Security and Availability in Email Communications

Since the protection of email communications against possible threats from the internet is not part of Continental AG‘s core business activities, the group decided to outsource this task to an email security provider. The aim was to improve the security, availability, and performance of global email communications substantially while reducing IT costs and expenditure.

Expansion of a Long-Term Partnership

Retarus has been a reliable IT partner of the Continental Group since 1994 and has demonstrated its outstanding expertise in a wide range of projects. The decisive factors for the continued expansion of the alliance were the excellent technical quality of Retarus‘ Email Security services and the provision of services in line with local data protection directives, coupled with absolutely benchmarkable costs. Continental AG has been using Retarus Email Security to safeguard its external email communications for more than 90,000 users worldwide since 2008.

All-Round Partner

In December 2007, Continental AG acquired Siemens Automotive Division VDO and was then faced with the challenge posed by thousands of additional email users. At the same time, a decision by the managing board to consolidate the email domains and email access had to be implemented. The existing, internally operated email gateways were incapable of meeting the new requirements in terms of capacity and performance. A further major challenge was the changeover of all VDO users from Microsoft Exchange to Lotus Notes/Domino (today: HCL Notes Domino). Retarus, being a messaging specialist with in-depth know-how in the field of Exchange and Notes Domino, helped manage this time-critical migration during the introduction of its Email Security.

Email Infrastructure: Less Strain and Full Protection

Retarus Email Security provides multi-stage real-time protection against viruses and also highly efficient spam detection functions. Any unwanted or dangerous content is eliminated before it can affect Continental AG‘s infrastructure. This reduces unnecessary data transfer by as much as 95 percent and removes much of the stress from the email infrastructure. The user-friendly quarantine management facility means greater efficiency and productivity for company personnel in every part of the world.

Encryption of Confidential Messages

Protection of important data is business-critical in the automotive industry, especially in the research and development departments. The strictly confidential content of inbound and outbound emails is therefore automatically encrypted and decrypted for Continental in Retarus‘ data centers using a customized set of rules and without any user interaction (PGP and S/MIME). There is also TLS (transport layer security) connection encryption with predefined communications partners in compliance with VDA (German Association of the Automotive Industry) guidelines.