Private email infrastructure & deliverability engineering
northboundmail.net
NorthboundMail Systems
Est. 2011 — SMTP infrastructure & deliverability
Infrastructure

Dedicated SMTP

A private MTA cluster allocated to a single client. Dedicated IPs, isolated bounce and complaint processing, tuned VMTAs, and direct engineer access. For senders whose volume, vertical or reputation profile makes shared infrastructure unworkable.

Overview

Dedicated SMTP is a full outbound email plant operated for one client. Northbound provisions the hardware or virtual instances, installs and configures PowerMTA or Postfix, allocates IPs, applies the client's DNS, and provides ongoing operational support.

The client retains complete ownership of the sending domains, keys and audience. Northbound retains responsibility for uptime, IP reputation, bounce classification, feedback loop registration and deliverability engineering.

Because the infrastructure is not shared, the client sets the operating envelope: retention, log format, throughput ceilings, throttling behaviour, and complaint handling policy.

Benefits

  • Complete isolation from other senders' behaviour
  • Custom VMTA topology per stream, brand or campaign
  • Direct access to logs, queues and PowerMTA config on request
  • IP allocations sized to the sending profile, not to a plan tier
  • Bounce and complaint handling routed into the client's systems

Technical specifications

MTA softwarePowerMTA 5.x (default) or Postfix 3.x
RegionsUS-East, US-West, UK, NL, DE, CH, SG
IPv4 allocations/29 to /24 blocks with rDNS and SWIP
ThroughputUp to 24M messages/day per node, cluster scales linearly
IsolationDedicated hosts; no tenant co-mingling
AccessSSH bastion, MFA, per-engineer keys, audited

Use cases

  • — High-volume marketing programs where inbox placement is revenue-critical
  • — iGaming and financial senders subject to strict content and jurisdictional constraints
  • — Media buyers rotating between offers and creatives at scale
  • — Enterprises consolidating outbound email away from multiple vendors

Questions

Do we get root on the servers?
Not by default. On request, we can arrange audited SSH access for a nominated engineer at the client. Most clients prefer to leave operations to us and receive scheduled reports instead.
Can we bring existing IPs?
Sometimes. If the IPs have a clean history, are BGP-announcable through our AS, and pass an initial reputation check, we can incorporate them. Otherwise we recommend a fresh allocation with a warm-up plan.
How is billing structured?
Monthly retainer covering the infrastructure and a defined operations envelope. There are no per-message markups.

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