Eli the Computer Guy

Archive for the ‘Email’ Category

Our first small business migration to hosted Exchange has gone extraordinarily well. The client had a Windows Small Business Server 2003 with Blackberry Enterprise Server installed and we migrated them to MailTrust.com hosted Exchange with Blackberry Support.

Hosted Exchange is made possible by the fact that since Outlook 2003 Outlook has been able to connect to an Exchange Server using HTTPS. In 2008 Microsoft made available a Hosted version of Exchange for service providers. So now you sign up with a provider of Hosted Exchange, point your Outlook and Smart Phone at their server and you have all the functionality of Exchange and none of the headaches.

The process went so smoothly that I was able to migrate 13 users with computers and 5 Blackberries in under 5 hours at the client site. Essentially all you have to do is export their current email to a .pst file, run a configuration script on the computer and then import the .pst file into the new account on Outlook. To setup the Blackberries you simply wipe their handset and then use the Enterprise Activation to activate the phone.

The administration of the service is done through a simple web console, and you do not need any high level skills to set it up. If you need to add a user, or increase the size of a mailbox, you just click a few buttons and you’re done.

There are a number of Hosted Exchange options out there. The 2 we recommend to our clients are MailTrust.com and 1and1.com.

1and1.com is very inexpensive at $6.99 per mailbox. We have used them for web hosting and POP3 email and have been very happy with them over the years.

MailTrust.com is a bit more expensive, but they support Blackberry Enterprise which 1and1.com does not. Mailtrust.com runs $12.50 per regular mailbox and $22.50 per Mailbox with Blackberry Phone.

Both services support Microsoft’s ActiveSync for Smart Phones with no additional fees. Additionally both services give you a license to download a copy of Outlook 2007.

Unless you are a company that is large enough to have your own full time technicians you will find Hosted Exchange is a more economical solution then having your own Exchange  Server. When I ran the numbers I figured it would take 3-4 years for the Hosted Exchange to come to the same price as if you purchased your own server. BUT you do not have to worry about your server crashing if you use the hosted service, and when it comes time to upgrade it will be much easier/ cheaper to do with a hosted option.

I feel so confident in hosted solutions that my company will no longer actively sell servers to clients. Although the profit margins are much better for installing servers I cannot honestly tell any of my clients that it’s a good idea.

Please remember when deciding on which provider to go with that cheap is not necessarily a good thing. Hosted Exchange may look simple from where you sit, but the back end of it is extraordinarily complicated. Make sure that you purchase service from a company that has been around a few years, and does not seem like a fly by night operation.

Hosted Exchange now seems to be a main stream product. Even if many consultants and consumers are not using it yet, the service has become prevalent among the hosting providers.

For the IT consultant this offers a huge opportunity, but also some very scary pit falls. Hosted Exchange makes Windows Small Business Server practically obsolete for the average small business.  Nearly all the benefits that SBS offers can now be had through hosted solutions that require a tenth of the manpower and training to implement.

MailTrust.com provides an exceptional solution for Hosted Exchange.  It’s a bit pricey, but the quality and functionality are very good.  MailTrust is the only major Hosted Exchange provider to offer Blackberry Enterprise Server services.

MailTrust charges $22.50 per month for each mailbox with Blackberry service, $12.50 per month for each regular Exchange mailbox, and $3 per month for mailboxes using Noteworthy mail service.  They require that you have at least 5 mailboxes, but you can mix and match types.

With the Hosted Exchange Mailboxes you get all of the functionality normally associated with Exchange.  You can use Outlook Web Access, and connect mobile devices using ActiveSync.  Additionally you get a license for either Outlook 2007 or Entourage 2008.

The client that I migrated to this service has had no major problems in the 2 weeks since the migration.  The only thing they really complain about is the fact that they now have to enter a password every time they open up Outlook.

If you have a client that has use for Exchange and Blackberry Enterprise Server you need to take a look at MailTrust.com.  The setup is a snap and the service is very reliable.

If you are interested take a look at www.MailTrust.com .