A Fayetteville company is playing

a role in helping companies fight unwanted e-mail through a new software

program called Spam Smacker.

This is the first software

rollout for Pro Exchange, which has thrived as a consulting business for

corporate clients such as Pfizer, AT&T, Chevron and Texaco. Steve

Bryant, president and CEO of Pro Exchange, said the software was developed

from the company's experience working with e-mail servers using Microsoft

Exchange.

Spam Smacker uses keywords

to detect spam -�unwanted e-mail - and can also target spam

messages by checking the authenticity of the message, Bryant said. Many

e-mail spammers use accounts that appear to have originated from America

Online or other companies, but their actual Internet addresses don't

correspond with those companies, Bryant noted.

E-mail sent from such fraudulent

addresses is deleted on the spot by Spam Smacker, Bryant said.

Another benefit of Spam Smacker

is there is a low rate of false positives, meaning that well-intentioned

usually makes it through.

"We're learning a

lot as we go," Bryant said, adding that 15,000 licenses for Spam

Smacker have been sold so far. The company plans to evolve its development

of the software, but he added that he was open to changing the name of

Spam Smacker at a later date.

Spam Smacker is designed for

small to medium companies with 100 to 5,000 employees.

Although the company's

office is in downtown Fayetteville near Wendy's, some of Bryant's

consultants work from their homes when not in the field working with clients,

allowing one of his employees to live in Colorado and another to live

in South Carolina.

"With the right people,

that can work really well," Bryant said of the telecommuting office.

Pro Exchange has served as

a corporate computer consultant for 10 years, with clients in Europe and

England also, Bryant noted.