Managed Hosted MS Exchange can benefit one and all

• Dedicated hosted exchange for Business Owners
• Dedicated hosted exchange for small companies
• Dedicated hosted exchange for large enterprises
• Dedicated hosted exchange for Financial Institutions

Please note that Ekkum provides dedicated hosted exchange with a minimum requirement of 10 users to start-with.

What is Microsoft Exchange Hosting?

Hosted Exchange is sometimes also called Exchange Hosting and is usually running on a Microsoft Exchange backend server. Using an email hosting provider you get peace of mind that your email system is always secure, back-up and up and running. Using a premier email hosting provider services also comes with high reliability and performance with administartion and 24x7 support.

Main difference between hosted exchange and web-based email hostingis that:
1. Web based email is a budget version of email hosting and
2. With Web based email you use a web browser to send, receive and review emails, i.e. you will need internet access to utilize Webmail.

Hosted Exchange:

Hosted Exchange is based on Microsoft's latest exchange server with Microsoft Outlook as your client. With Outlook you can do more than send and receive email, you can share calendars, folders and contacts. Outlook is available for desktop, browser and mobile access so you are always connected, whether you are in the office, on the road ot working at home. You always connect to the same exchange server; therefore your inbox always stays synched in near-real time, no matter which Outlook client you are using.

In a Hosted exchange environment, Ekkum would own and is responsible for the data centre, network, devices, operating system and application infrastructure components. In short, we are responsible for providing a stable operating environment for every application used. Your own IT organization manages the applications and maintains full control over the applications infrastructure and business process. In contrast with in-house-on-site email servers you need to provide maintenance and have anti-virus subscription and security update upgrades. You'll need to purchase a new server approximately every 5 years and you will have slow access from outside of the office. You also need to invest in server hardware, server software licensing, exchange enterprise software and Blackberry server software. Finally you'll need to hire a consultant to install software and perform maintenance/upgrades. Having a hosted exchange solution mean you don't have to pay through the nose for expensive in-house servers, software licenses, employing IT staff to install and maintain the infrastructure, or being responsible for a 24/7 infrastructure.

Web based email or web mail
Webmail gives you "anywhere, anytime", emails, calendars, contacts and task lists. It's intended to be as powerful as a desktop client, such as Outlook. The only limitation is that you need a web browser and an internet connection. You can access email from Outlook, BlackBerry, Webmail, or any other email client or wireless device with absolutely no maintenance on your end. Webmail email hosting is a budget email hosting solution, but nonetheless it delivers great functionality for small businesses. A Webmail service takes away complexities of installing and maintaining an in-house email solution and at the same time offers the latest anti-spam, anti-virus and security technologies. Webmail is an email hosting solution that is perfect for businesses that have somewhat limited in-house budgets for IT expenses, limited IT resources to support an email environment and businesses that need the latest spam and virus protection.
Hosted exchange or Webmail - What's best for you?
What are the main differences between hosted exchange and Webmail? In summary hosted exchange is a more sophisticated solution with more shared options and is more widely deployed, on the other hand Webmail is gaining market share easily accessible and is of course a cheaper solution than hosted exchange. Below is a brief explanation of what the differences are - in terms of ability to share contacts, tasks and calendar - between hosted exchange and Webmail email hosting.
Share contacts
Shared contacts are usually available with the hosted exchange option. Other users can be granted access to edit your contacts. Usually there is no ability for shared contacts with the Webmail option. Other users cannot have access to edit your contacts.
Share tasks
You can usually share tasks among users with hosted exchange. You have the ability to assign a task to other users. You can select the users you want to invite and automatically see the best times to meet. Collaboration with tasks among users is usually not available with the Webmail option. You cannot assign a task to someone else and you have to manually find everyone's schedule before you agree to set up a meeting.
Share calendar
Exchange usually allows you to delegate read/write capabilities with the hosted exchange option, i.e. you can have an assistant create events for you. Events can have different statuses and colours on your calendar (i.e. out of office, on holiday, business etc.). No delegation capabilities can be given to other users with the Webmail option, so your assistant cannot create events for you. Only read access can be given. Categories of events are not available (personal, out of office, on holiday etc.) and all calendar events are displayed in the same colour.

Shared Exchange Hosting

In Shared Exchange Hosting, your Exchange mailboxes are running on one of our central Exchange Servers along with other company's Exchange mailboxes. Each company's mailboxes are completely separate and secure from each other company on the server.

Dedicated Exchange Hosting

In Dedicated Exchange Hosting, your company has its own server and copy of Exchange running on it. No other company uses the server. It becomes more cost effective to have your own Dedicated Exchange once you reach around 50 users.

Benefits of Microsoft Exchange Hosting

With all mailbox data, including contacts, calendar and more, stored centrally on the Exchange Server, Exchange Account users can connect via a variety of devices to view their entire mailbox and seamlessly synchronize across platforms and devices. For example, your staff can use Microsoft Outlook 2003 while in the office, a Blackberry or a Treo handheld while on the road, and Outlook Web Access from home or an Internet cafe - all without ever having to worry about synchronization of any e-mails, contacts, or appointments. Everything is kept in sync! No other email system can offer you this type of powerful coordination of your information.

Collaboration and Information Sharing
The Exchange Server collaboration features help you to share information quickly and efficiently. Typical collaborative scenarios include maintaining shared address lists that everyone can view and edit, scheduling meetings that include people and conference rooms by viewing associated free or busy schedules, the ability to grant other people, such as administrators, access to your mailbox on your behalf. You can also manage "rules" for processing messages on Exchange Server, giving you the flexibility to create auto-responses and automatic filing of incoming messages.

Benefits of Outsourcing Exchange Hosting

As it has steadily gained in popularity, Microsoft has continuously added more features and functionality to deliver more value. As this has increased the complexity of the software, administrators find they have to spend more and more time maintaining internal systems, especially when installing upgrades and troubleshooting new features. This trend has resulted in more and more organizations looking to outsource their Exchange Server to companies that have the expertise and focus on maintaining Exchange Servers.

We have excellent options to host your exchange on one of our servers. We provide Shared Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry hosting for as many number of users as per your requirement.