Exchange, SharePoint Services Ready

The Exchange and SharePoint Online Standard services, now available, offer Microsoft-hosted installations of these applications to organizations of all sizes. The new services could particularly attract customers in smaller organizations who want Web-based collaboration and advanced e-mail features, such as integrated scheduling, but don’t want the upfront investment and ongoing management costs of running Exchange and SharePoint on-premises. However, customers will have to scrutinize their service agreements carefully and accept the security and reliability risks associated with outsourcing to an online service.

Exchange, SharePoint Over the Web

The new services launched in Nov. 2008 include the following:

Exchange Online Standard offers e-mail, calendars, and to-do lists management, and is accessible from either an on-premises Outlook 2007 client or the Outlook Web Access browser interface. The service also supports push e-mail to some mobile devices, and Microsoft provides antivirus and spam-filtering in its data centers.