What is Exchange?

Microsoft Exchange Server also called Microsoft Exchange and just plain Exchange is a widely used messaging and collaborative software product. Its major features consist of electronic mail, calendaring, contacts and tasks, and optional support for the mobile and web-based access to information, as well as supporting data back-up and retrieval. Microsoft Exchange Server enables the organization's resources, when required, to gain access to critical business communications almost whenever and wherever they need to and is designed to deliver greater security, availability, and reliability. A Better Outlook^SM consists of Microsoft Exchange Server along with optional features and/or Microsoft SharePoint.

With Microsoft Exchange Server email folders can be shared at the group level (a group can be a team, a department or the entire organization), or any user mix that an organization wished to define. Security is applied to allow privileges at the individual or group level. For example, a member can see all the administrative email folders, but none of the financial email folders. Non-group email folders are seen only by the individual. Calendars can be seen at the group. Calendars can be seen by others with permission. Tasks can be assigned and tracked to others as well as to the individual. Contact information can be shared or kept at the individual level.

A Better Outlook^SM with optional mobile access enables Microsoft Exchange Server users not only have access to full featured email services, but with our integrated wireless GoodLink, Blackberry and ActiveSync services, our customers have the ability to access data stored in contacts, calendars and tasks anytime and anywhere. See Mobile Access for more information.

Exchange vs. POP3
Internal vs. External Hosting

The table below is a partial list of differences between an Exchange solution and POP3. For a more comprehensive list, click here.

Outlook Feature	Exchange	POP3 IMAP4	Notes
Outlook group scheduling	X		Exchange Server includes rich scheduling features, including personal, group, and resource scheduling, which integrate with e mail, contacts, and tasks. Basic POP3 and IMAP4 systems do not come with scheduling capabilities.
Sharing calendars and side-by-side calendar views	X		Users can share their calendar information with others, enabling users to view multiple calendars simultaneously.
Contact sharing and access	X		Contacts from the Global Address List (shared company directory) can be added to personal contacts. Contacts in Exchange Server can also be directly synchronized to Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile and accessed from Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access and Microsoft Outlook Mobile Access.
Outlook delegate access	X		This feature enables other users to manage designated components of your mailbox on your behalf. For example, a manager can permit an administrator to manage his or her calendar. In POP3 and IMAP4 systems, you would have to enable complete mailbox access by sharing your logon information. In a POP3 service, there are additional complications because messages are removed from the server after they download to the client.
Support for multiple computer access	X	Partial	Exchange Server and Outlook support multiple, simultaneous access to Exchange Server. IMAP supports multicomputer support, but POP3 is best suited for single-computer access. In addition, IMAP supports only e-mails, while Exchange Server adds support for scheduling, tasks, contacts, and public folders.
Access to Exchange Server public folders (both online and offline), shared resources for instantaneous content, and communication sharing	X	Individual email folder access in IMAP	Public folders are available only in Exchange Server and are commonly used for shared, spontaneous discussions, content collaboration, and news feeds.

External hosting for Microsoft Exchange Server has become the first choice for small and medium sized businesses. Most of these companies find that the pricing and outstanding support make this an extremely viable option. To keep Exchange hosted in-house, the cost can quickly skyrocket out of control. The initial costs are in the five figures + category not including personnel, space, support services and management attention. Ongoing costs for in-house Exchange are also high. Either companies need to hire IT staff or pay consultants to fix each problem, adding thousands more dollars in annual costs. These are the reasons why external hosting for Microsoft Exchange Server is the choice of businesses. With external hosting for Microsoft Exchange Server, A Better Outlook takes care of all of the issues that companies would have to deal with if they had servers in-house and only charges a small monthly fee to use it. The business gets to enjoy the same enterprise-strength IT that Fortune 500 companies have, without the exorbitant price.

A Better Outlook^SM with its 99.9% uptime guarantee and 24x7 world-class support from Microsoft Gold Certified staff makes external hosting for Microsoft Exchange Server a great choice for small companies ready to use advanced IT as a competitive advantage.