Savvis, the nation’s No. 2 web hosting company, closed the accounts after Spamhaus' Register of Known Spam Operations (Rokso) notified the company that it was providing services to known unsolicited bulk emailers.
"[This company] has always been, and will always be, anti-spam," Savvis CEO Rob McCormick told XBiz. "Our relationship with Spamhaus … will allow us to continue leading the industry fight against spam."
McCormick said he would have never allowed these alleged spammers onto their web-hosting service and that all of the accounts were clients of Cable & Wireless' U.S. division, which Savvis acquired in March.
"Not one of these contracts were signed by Savvis,” said McCormick, who noted the company used Rokso’s “three-strike” list to help identify and disconnect the spammers.
St. Louis, Mo.-based Savvis would not provide a list of the 40 spammers fingered by Rokso, but said that those companies represent an immaterial portion of the company’s revenue — reportedly $250,000.
The Rokso database collates information and evidence on known spam operations that have had their services terminated by a minimum of three consecutive Internet service providers for serious spam offenses.
Spamhaus says that 90 percent of spam received by Internet users in North America and Europe can be traced to a group of approximately 200 known spam operations, almost all of which are listed in the Rokso database.
Those spam operations consist of nearly 600 professional spammers loosely grouped into gangs, called "spam gangs,” that move from one ISP to another.
With a network spanning nearly 110 major cities in 45 countries, Savvis provides network services to some 1,900 medium and large businesses and ISPs.
Savvis’ network supports ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), IP (Internet protocol) and frame relay technologies. The company uses PrivateNAPs (private network access points) that allow its traffic to bypass public Internet-access points.