Microsoft's Exchange Server 2010 promises to lower costs, improve productivity and integrate email archiving.
News: AtlantaNAP Completes SAS 70 Type II Audit
News: Answers.com Signs Colo Deal with C7 Data Centers
News: NTT Com Boosts Japan-US Backbone Speed to 300Gbps
News: Bick Group Buys Blue Mountain Labs, Expands Cloud Computing Services
News: Pinnacle Cart to Debut PA DSS Compliant Release Next Week
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Giving businesses the opportunity to try out the beta of Exchange 2010 as a hosted service, Intermedia (www.intermedia.net) has become the first hosting provider to offer Microsoft's latest collaboration suite as a hosted service.
Promising to lower costs, improve productivity and integrate email archiving, Microsoft's (www.microsoft.com) Exchange Server 2010 beta, released in April as the first part of Microsoft's upcoming suite of unified communications products, has been rebuilt from the ground up, and is designed to work in both on-premise and online applications.
Intermedia marketing director Danny Essner said the rollout is the product of an exclusive partnership with Microsoft as the only hosting provider in the Technology Adoption Program (or TAP). "We decided to make the beta available in a hosted version so that Intermedia could test the infrastructure to host Exchange 2010 when it becomes a commercial product later this year or early next year," Essner said.
"[It] also give[s] our partners and customers the opportunity to start getting their hands on the new software and the new interface, which has some cool features...they don't have to install any software or anything - it's just a turn-key hosted solution just like our commercial hosted exchange offering."
Exchange 2010 features have been tested out on campuses across the country as a free hosted email service, Microsoft Live@edu (get.liveatedu.com), where its expanded web browser support for Safari and FireFox has been popular among the students and faculty.
A crucial part of Microsoft's "next generation" unified communications software, Exchange Server 2010 will remain in beta until the second half of 2009, according to Microsoft. Microsoft Exchange corporate vice president Rajesh Jha said, "This release raises the bar with new archiving and end-user innovations that will help companies save money and employees save time."
The new release promises to simplify the administration of always-on communications and disaster recovery. It has integrated email archiving, which helps companies protect their information and meet compliance requirements, letting companies store and query emails across the organization.
Exchange 2010 is also the first product in Microsoft's new wave of highly-integrated "Office" product line, which will include Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft Visio 2010 and Microsoft Project 2010. Designed to give users a consistent experience across devices, Microsoft aims to make work and collaboration easier, which will help it compete with Google (www.google.com) and other cloud-based email services that have been honing in on Microsoft's enterprise customer base.
Essner said that Intermedia customers have been very satisfied with the hosted beta of Exchange 2010, which gave them a glimpse of the future of hosted email -- one where Exchange still reigns supreme.
Read Back Issues of WHIR Magazine
October 2009 - Web Hosting's All Star Team
This has been, for us, one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging build-ups to an issue of the magazine yet, Web Hosting's All Star Team. The balloting process was our first experiment with a kind of user participation we're planning to do a lot more with in the months to come. We had thousands of ballots submitted, with hundreds of write-in suggestions and a demonstration of user engagement that has us feeling super positive about the project.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
July 2009 - What am I Worth?
One of the interesting luxuries of working on a project like the printed WHIR magazine is that it allows us to play with things like our point of view from one issue to the next. In recent months we've been giving added attention to the kind of practical and applicable advice aimed at smaller hosts and resellers. This issue carries on with that point of view, asking, in our cover story, "what am I worth?" It's a complicated question without a clear-cut answer.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
May 2009 - The Blueprint for a Small Web Host
I was a little surprised by how difficult it became to see this idea through. We set out to assemble a blueprint for a small hosting business, but butted up pretty quickly against the general impossibility of covering all the territory that was out there to be covered. The basic constraints of a printed magazine, and the less-than-infinite amount of time we had available forced us to face the fact that we could never produce an exhaustive guide to starting a hosting company.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
Comment anonymously or log into your WHIR account
Logging in allows enhanced commenting features (such as external linking) in news, features, blogs and more.
Comment by Anonymous on Friday, June 19, 2009
Hi
Intermedia aren't the only hosting provider on the TAP program.
Daniel
Comment by Anonymous on Friday, June 19, 2009
There are PLENTY of Exchange Hosting Providers on the TAP program.
And I can say right now I have never seen Intermedia post ONCE in my 6 months + of being on there!!!! All other Hosted Exchange Providers have!
Comment by Anonymous on Friday, June 19, 2009
Who are these guys??? Never heard of them.
Comment by Anonymous on Thursday, August 06, 2009
Intermedia is the number one hosting service in the nation. They have won many awards from Micrsosoft.
I am a Microsoft partner and they are extremely well known, you should do some research
Comment by Anonymous on Monday, September 14, 2009
They are too expensive