Updated: July 11, 2020 (January 24, 2005)

  Analyst Report

IM, Portal Join Exchange Hosting

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754 wordsTime to read: 4 min
Rob Helm by
Rob Helm

As managing vice president, Rob Helm covers Microsoft collaboration and content management. His 25-plus years of experience analyzing Microsoft’s technology... more

Service providers hosting e-mail on Exchange Server will want to investigate the Hosted Messaging and Collaboration Solution, a just-updated package of Microsoft management software and documentation. Version 3.0 of the solution exploits new features of Exchange and Outlook to simplify client connections and supports new services such as instant messaging (IM) using Live Communications Server. Hosted e-mail and collaboration can help expand the products that service providers sell to small business, but providers will face competition from a variety of sources, including Microsoft itself.

High-End E-Mail for Small Businesses

Service providers have been hosting e-mail and related services on Exchange for some time. According to Microsoft, their typical customer is a business with 5 to 250 PCs with the following characteristics:

  • Is technically sophisticated enough to appreciate advanced collaboration functions, such as meeting scheduling
  • Has low tolerance for e-mail downtime and security

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