Gartner Report on Email Systems

The latest Gartner report does a good job of breaking down on-premise and cloud-based email systems.  Many vendors fair well with positive and Microsoft does a good job leading the charge with a "strong positive" rating.

Email and Calendaring systems continue to be one of the most, if not the most important systems used daily by enterprises.

A reprint of the report can be found at Gartner's site at http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/microsoft/vol10/article19b/article19b.html

Exchange Online Datasheet

I'm asked regularly by customers, "What do we receive with Exchange Online?" There is some confusion around what the offering is and what it is that you pay for. Simply put, it is a great service for 5GB per person AGGREGATED up to 25GB per mailbox per user! In March, it is road mapped to go up to a whopping 25GB per user. I've attached the Microsoft Data on Exchange online below. Exchange Online: Messaging is now a mission-critical application for business―but delivering a feature-rich messaging service is challenging. Regulatory requirements are becoming increasingly complex. Merger and divestiture activities require rapid adjustment of service capacity. Good technical expertise is in high demand. And the “buy versus build” economics are changing.

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EDPS - Exchange Deployment Planning Services

Many customers I have worked with in the past several months didn't realize what the EDPS offering was and that in many cases it was funded by Microsoft as part of their software assurance.  Attached is an overview of what EDPS is and what it provides.  With Exchange 2010 around the corner, SKT has developed an updated EDPS offering that focuses on that technology as well as Exchange 2007.  There are also several West UC Solutions-Funded and Customer/West UC Solutions Funded packaged services for EDPS for customers without SA.  Contact me at rodney.horton@westucglobal.com if you have any questions on the process or how to leverage your benefits.

http://www.westucglobal.com/storage/EDPS.pdf

Exchange Online - Whitepaper

Microsoft® Exchange Online is a hosted enterprise messaging solution based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. Exchange Online helps give your business the e-mail security it demands, your employees the e-mail access they want, and your IT staff the operational efficiency it needs. The service leverages our deep knowledge of Microsoft products, best practices developed with customers and partners, and our global infrastructure to deliver a world-class, mission-critical service.

The Exchange Online service includes advanced e-mail features as well as calendaring, contact, and task management capabilities. Exchange Online also provides built-in spam control and virus scanning to reduce common security risks that are associated with e-mail files.

Exchange Online Standard is a Microsoft Online Services offering designed for rapid service adoption by an organization. It includes a standardized Web-based administrative console that makes it easy to manage and set up services for users. It is available as a standalone service or as part of the Business Productivity Online Suite that also includes Microsoft SharePoint® Online, Microsoft Office Communications Online and Microsoft Office Live Meeting. 

http://bit.ly/Dpxgs