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Microsoft Exchange is by far the best
and most popular business email and collaboration product, but there’s
a catch: running Exchange ‘in-house’ (that is, in your
own offices, using your own hardware and software) is very expensive.
Upfront costs can exceed $5,000 – and this doesn’t include
staff time to maintain it. This is why smaller businesses typically
choose ‘hosted’ Exchange.
‘Hosted’ means that a specialist IT company runs the
Exchange server and charges businesses a small monthly fee to use
it. Compare what is involved:
|
In-house
Exchange |
Hosted
Exchange from Missouri Data Systems |
Cost of software |
Hundreds of Dollars |
Included |
Cost of IT hardware |
Thousands of Dollars |
Included |
Time to get up and running |
Days or even weeks |
Within 24hrs |
24x7 maintenence and suport |
Unlikely |
|
| Contract guaranteeing email 'uptime' |
|
|
Server located in advanced data center |
|
|
| Regular backup in case of equipment failure or human error |
Time-consuming, often slips due to pressures |
|
| Anti-virus, anti-spam to protect against system threats |
Time-consuming, often slips due to pressures |
|
Wireless options like Blackberry and Treo |
Separate licenses & servers |
(Add.
setup & monthly fees apply) |
Having email and collaboration that always works is now essential
to doing business - and downtime is unacceptable.
In-house Exchange servers - usually in a basement or closet not designed
for sensitive IT equipment - can not match the reliability of hosted
Outlook/Exchange.
Hosted Outlook/Exchange companies like Missouri Data Systems partner
with companies that manage servers in large purpose-built datacenters
with backup power, air conditioning and Internet connections. Below
are the main threats to your email system:
|
In-house
Exchange |
Hosted
Exchange from Missouri Data Systems |
Servers |
One server - all email depends on this. |
Cluster of servers - if one stops working
the others take over |
Data Storage |
One or two hard disk drives - all email
depends on this. |
Large cluster of drives which automatically
share workload if one fails |
Backup |
Manual - sometimes slips due to time pressures |
Automatic and frequent |
E-mail security (anti-virus, anti-spam) |
Updates not always made frequently enough |
Continuous 24x7 updates |
| Data connection |
Single data line to the Internet |
Multiple connections, direct to Internet
backbone |
Physical environment |
Low-quality environment, power, air conditioning
system |
Tier-1 datacenter (as used by Google and
Yahoo!) |
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