Hosted Exchange Server offerings

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bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#62384 5-Jun-2010 16:28

Hiya All,

A mate has a small company with about 6 computers on a workgroup. They want to get a exchange server and was looking at the online offering from Quincerto ($29/mo/user).

Then saw Microsoft Online offering at $8/mo/user - much cheaper.

Made me wonder if anyone out there has much experience with these services, and if so who is good/better/best and at what price?

Cheers

-Al

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79316 posts

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#338564 5-Jun-2010 16:43

Check the Microsoft BPOS T&C. I think this price is for a smaller storage and web access only.

Define what are the requirements and work the package from there.

I use Microsoft BPOS and it works well.

bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#338573 5-Jun-2010 17:25

Yeah I couldnt see the Microsoft including licensing for the Outlook Client, but other than they seem very similar.

zimbonz

96 posts

Master Geek

#339183 7-Jun-2010 22:52

I agree - BPOS is killing the hosted exchange price point. They are offering 25GB of storage per mailbox - and so far so good. No included Outlook though.

bigal_nz

635 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#339216 8-Jun-2010 06:31

What I am a little confused about, is if you do it online yourself, is it hard to get the MX? records redirected etc etc?

Never done it before....

-Al

slartibartfast

61 posts

Master Geek

#339282 8-Jun-2010 10:27

I'd strongly recommend considering Google Apps over BPOS.

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html

For 6 computers you can use Google Apps Standard for free, and if you want more "enterprise" features then Google Apps Premier is something like 50 US dollars per user per year.

It comes down to personal preference, but I don't think you'll regret it.

We use Google Apps for our company's mail and I really prefer it over our old Exchange / Outlook experience.

As a result, I now use Standard for my personal domain for free - the MX record setup etc. was all pretty straightforward.

freitasm

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#339286 8-Jun-2010 10:38

slartibartfast: I'd strongly recommend considering Google Apps over BPOS.

Google Apps is a good fit for small domain or personal email. But if you ever need to get support, good luck. Google offers no support at all. Even if you pay Google Apps Premiere (the $50/yr one) which in theory includes support, you will still be asked to go to their support forums. Microsoft BPOS on the other hand has brilliant support.

You can read my blogs about problems with Google Apps, experienced first hand:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/6854

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/freitasm/6984

amanzi

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#339291 8-Jun-2010 10:52

freitasm: But if you ever need to get support, good luck. Google offers no support at all.

My only experience with Google Apps support was actually very good. I sent them an email, they responded the next day with a solution which fixed the problem. (it was related to ActiveSync)

slartibartfast: I'd strongly recommend considering Google Apps over BPOS.

My company offers services and support around both Microsoft Online Services and Google Apps. I never recommend one over the other without knowing the customer's requirements first, but in general if a customer prefers using Outlook then Hosted Exchange will be a better fit than Google Apps. But if you don't have Outlook, or you prefer the Gmail interface, then Google Apps will be a better fit. I also recommend that if you're a business, you should use Google's Premier Edition rather than the free version as you get the SLA plus Google has a contractual obligation to keep your mail services running.

bigal_nz: What I am a little confused about, is if you do it online yourself, is it hard to get the MX? records redirected etc etc?

With either service you'll be required to sign up for an account and configure your MX records - I don't find either service better or worse for this. You'll need to know your domain registration details and how to edit your DNS records. Migrating your existing mail can be tricky depending on your current mail service but if you're setting up mail from scratch then you won't have this issue.

Feel free to contact me if you need some more advice, and we'd be happy to get you up and running with either service. Email: stuart@amanzi.co.nz