is any one using hosted email?

ilcram19-2

is anyone hosting their email with google or any other email hosting provider?
can you also give me your main reasons? is it honestly working for you?

for the people that decided to keep and manage exchange and update to let say to exchange 2010
how is ti working for you?
would you rather have it hosted?

please let me know i need all the info that i can get so i can formulate an idea.
just provide your personal experiance i would really apreciate

gosh1976

At my new job we use google. The gpanion dashboard is handy and it does everything I've wanted it to do so far. I think it's a pretty decent solution for a small company. We have some customers using Exchange and some hosting through google.

I haven't really been here long enough to give any more insight!

jibbajabba

We are still using Exchange 2003 at work which we don't intend to change any time soon due to the tools we're using and aren't ported to Exchange 2010 yet.

Since I am working in a hosting company I stopped using anything "free" - whether it is gmail / googlemail, hotmail etc. etc. - the amount of spam received was unreal.

Since I then started to create an account / alias for every website I sign up with (to track who sold my address, i.e. 343434@domain.com is what I am using on amazon, jfsjhkjehre@domain.com on paypal and so on) it was necessary to have my own server. Started with free stuff (hmailserver), over to premium (Merak, Atmail) and now Exchange ...

ilcram19-2

we currently use echange 2003 but we are in the process to move to either a hosted system or exchange 2010 im just seeing the pros and cons. personaly i like to move to exchnage 2010

ilcram19-2

no one else has a real experiance?

jrdeleon1

My company uses hosted e-mail with Network Solutions. I guess corporate thought they were getting a good deal. However, we've had so many problems with their service.

As an example, they regularly shutdown our domains because of exceeding a daily limit on sent e-mail. Their reasoning is that one of our e-mail addresses has been compromised and is likely sending spam. Every time we ask their support to provide us the e-mail address and domain that is causing this, they respond by saying they can't give us that information. What's astounding about this is that, should they give us this information, we can probably assess whether or not it has been compromised. They will not even surrender this information to our Director of IT.

If it was up to me, I'd drop this service...

blargoe

We haven't used it, but we have heard some good things about Microsoft's BPOS hosted solution... basically Exchange Server but in the cloud. You get almost all of the functionality that you would get with a self-hosted Exchange server.

Chivalry1

From what I have heard with some of these companies you wont get Mobile email features. And response time for issues are terrible (Google). Also an extraordinary amount of spam. And tons false positive emails being blocked and when you call the company they will return your phone call 3 business days later.

I would stick with maintaining your email locally. I only recommend hosted companies if you have no plans for growth. Or if you need a hosted solution to perform spam filtering.

ilcram19-2

thanks alot please keep posting i think im going to be persuing my own exchange 2010, but id like to get all the feedback goor or bad posible for hosted emal.

shodown

I work for a solutuions provider. I'm mainly on the cisco side of the house, but I will deal with exchange if the need arises. So I'll give some pro's and cons and I'm speaking on BPOS as the hosted provider


Pros on hosted

- No need to have servers on site and can save on having a IT guy on site who does the mail. This is critical for smal/med business who dont' have the money for the talent.


- Most of the time there won't be any problems, once someone's account is created they have access to there inbox, there webmail, or on their mobile device. It just works


Cons on hosted


- Massive outtages. When there is a BPOS outtage the pain has been felt. No email was lost, but tons wasn't delivered. You can call and talk and yell at people, but you are at there mercy


- Distribution list aren't fully implemented. It took us forever to get one done a few weeks ago. The guys on the other end had no clue

- You aren't protected from HIPPA, and other regulatory compliance. If you get hit up and they ask for your email. You can get it, but if the cloud doesnt' have it its your problem not there's


- When you want to add features is cost money.


Pro's on on sever


- Its in house, so when you need to add features and users it can be done right away. Even with your own internal ticketing system they can get it done.


- As long as you lock it down have good hardware, and make good backups outtages can be controlled very easy


- You want to audit someobody. All your management has to do is make the call.


Cons

- Expensive to maintain. You have to have the server itself, Storage, and a competent IT staff. We have taken several tickets from people who have called in for exchange support(we built and designed there system, but they declined support) for several companies who had "exchange guru" but when the curtain was raised they were exposed.


- Finding good IT staff. As much as I hate to say it. General "IT guy/gal" are a dime a dozen. "IT professionals" on the other hand don't come around that often and most companies dont' understand why a "It guy" come in and ask for 40-50K and a "IT professional" comes in and ask for 90-100K and they have the same certs on paper. Only the VAR's and Partners and large corps seem to understand this(and can afford it).




In the end I kind of went off on a rant and really didn't provide you with a good way to go, but here's what I will cue in on. If you have a good staff internally and have the cash host your own exchange it even has voicemail built in:). If your IT staff is so/so and you don't have the upfront money or is already overworked go hosted, but make sure you really check out who you are getting it from.

instant000

I agree.

At my last job, I pushed them towards outsourcing Exchange.

The simple reasoning behind it was that the business wanted a higher level of availability than they were willing to invest in placing in-house.

As the business was geographically-dispersed, and was not willing to invest in mail redundancy (as well as the personnel to support this), but decided they needed high availability ... the decision was to outsource the exchange to a provider who wouldn't be as vulnerable as we were to natural disaster, power spike, network outage, etc.

We also tried to propose mail continuity service as a compromise, but it still doesn't get away from the need to maintain the servers in-house, as well as the ongoing cost of the continuity service.

Not sure how well the outsourcing will go there, as I left the company a few months ago (they really weren't paying well enough) .... kinda alluding to what the above poster said about the compensation being lacking at some companies, which is so true.

garv221

Yeah. I found Mail Street to be great.