Any views on Email Hosting?

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JoeGecko

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#43568 21-Oct-2009 01:00

Hello Everyone,

i run a small offide design comoany and am thinking of implementing email hosting rather than setting up an email server at my office. I thiink it oculd be more convenient and less troublesome. I ve came across a company Rackspace Email Hosting offering this service together with 24hour customer support, i 'd like to have your views on this issue . Thanks.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#265556 21-Oct-2009 09:31

I moved to an outsorced email hosting (or the folks call now "cloud" which is just a new name for the same thing).

I used to run my own Exchange server. All worked perfectly. Then I wanted to move to an external provider.

I had a few options: Microsoft BPOS, Google Apps, Rackspace. Google Apps won because of price - depending on number of license it will be cheaper in the long run. Microsoft BPOS requires five licenses minimum (about $60 total per month) and Rackspace requires 3 licenses minimum.

Google Apps works. They even have a free version (which my wife's using). With the free version you will be using IMAP for email or their web interface. IF you go with Premiere (paid) as I did then you get to use the Outlook Sync which is great if you want to keep using Microsoft Outlook as it was with Exchange. This is what I use and it works well - it also syncs calendar and contacts.

I did find LOTS of problems mainly in the new synchronisation with mobile devices. Since I do use mobile a lot for email and calendar the problems are getting to the point where I am getting ready to move out of Google Apps to a new solution. Google is looking at these problems though and I am just waiting for results before deciding.

I also tried Microsoft BPOS - they offer a 30 day trial. It's very powerful and allows you to have multiple domain aliases and email aliases.

Rackspace came to me with good recommendations, although I haven't used them yet.

There's another (local as in NZ) alternative but it's not public yet and is a local company releasing its own service based on Kerio Mail.

Of course there are other email service providers around but those are the ones I actually looked into.

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amanzi

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#265566 21-Oct-2009 10:03

JoeGecko: Hello Everyone,

i run a small offide design comoany and am thinking of implementing email hosting rather than setting up an email server at my office. I thiink it oculd be more convenient and less troublesome. I ve came across a company Rackspace Email Hosting offering this service together with 24hour customer support, i 'd like to have your views on this issue . Thanks.

Are you mainly a Windows or Mac shop? What are you currently using for email? What client would you like to access emails with - i.e. web browser, Outlook, generic email client? Is mobile access important? These are just some of the questions I ask when setting up hosted email solutions for my customers.

If you're a Windows + MS Office shop, then a hosted Exchange solution will be the most seamless, but may not be the cheapest. Microsoft provide their own hosted Exchange solution or there are lots of other companies that offer similar setups too. If you're not running Windows or MS Office, then Google Apps is a good option - very easy to set up and the free version will be fine for most small businesses.

Feel free to contact me offline if you need more specific help.

nate

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#265601 21-Oct-2009 11:23

+1 for Google Apps

tomgeeknz

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#265603 21-Oct-2009 11:26

+1 Google Apps

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#265614 21-Oct-2009 11:53

+1 Google Apps

chiefie

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#265617 21-Oct-2009 12:00

+ Google Apps for simplistic cloud email package.

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JoeGecko

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#265832 21-Oct-2009 21:57

Wow.. thank you everyone for your replies. Very insightful. We work mainly on windows platform here but we also have 2 macs for the designers. And yes, mobile access is inportant for our customer representatives. I'll start thinking about what are the prerequisites for email hosting to work for us.

thank again everyone. Much appreciated :)

casper021

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#265969 22-Oct-2009 09:31

another one for google apps been using them for about a year now

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#265972 22-Oct-2009 09:40

freitasm:
Google Apps works. They even have a free version (which my wife's using). With the free version you will be using IMAP for email or their web interface. IF you go with Premiere (paid) as I did then you get to use the Outlook Sync which is great if you want to keep using Microsoft Outlook as it was with Exchange. This is what I use and it works well - it also syncs calendar and contacts.

Looking at the material, it seems that sync is now also available for the free version. I've still got some time left on my Exchange hosted solution (with GoDaddy) - but I'm considering Google Apps ...

freitasm:
I did find LOTS of problems mainly in the new synchronisation with mobile devices. Since I do use mobile a lot for email and calendar the problems are getting to the point where I am getting ready to move out of Google Apps to a new solution. Google is looking at these problems though and I am just waiting for results before deciding.

With these problems, do you think it's because you manage the items from your mobile as well? I tend to read a lot of my email, but contact and calendar management is usually done from the OWA or from within Outlook as well? (This used to include entourage, but unfortunately it has offended my too much ...)

Thanks!

imd6662

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#267751 28-Oct-2009 16:42

Trying to make a similar decision myself.

Tried out gmail but I really hate the web interface and ran into problems with bulk emailing to mailing lists.

The Microsoft Online service looks a lot slicker but as Mauricio observes the 5-saet minimum is an obstacle.

Ragnor

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#267879 28-Oct-2009 22:55

You can use whatever IMAP client you feel like to access Gmail, then you don't have to use the web ui at all.

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imd6662

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#267934 29-Oct-2009 08:35

Ragnor: You can use whatever IMAP client you feel like to access Gmail, then you don't have to use the web ui at all.

True. I suppose the Outlook Sync Mauricio refers to is only required if you want contacts and schedule integrated as well.

However that still leaves the bulk email issue and also some other things I'd like to have such as multiple email aliases for both sending and receiving.

freitasm

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#267938 29-Oct-2009 08:41

Correct. The Google Sync Outlook tool is if you want Microsoft Outlook to work as it would if you had an Exchange server - it will synchronise Contacts, Calendar and email.

For the record I am moving my account from Google Apps Premiere to Microsoft BPOS. Enough of sync not working to my smartphone - or even between two PCs.

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imd6662

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#267939 29-Oct-2009 08:41

imd6662:
Tes09: I have heard a NZ own local company who is doing Email Hosting. They are call [name drop removed].

Yes, there's a number of such-like and, of course, once you're in the cloud why does it have to be NZ_based? Just a matter of finding one with a pricing plan and provisioning model which is attractive. [name drop removed] for exmaple doesn;t put its pricing on the webiste which turns me off straight away.

freitasm

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#267942 29-Oct-2009 08:43

I edited the previous post - and deleted Tes09 post because he obviously work for that company.

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