Archive for 16th June 2009

Microsoft Exchange hosting. 5 questions.

Looking for Exchange Hosting?

Ask these questions first.


1. How much bandwidth will you get?

Some Exchange Hosting providers will charge you if you go above a set bandwidth amount. Regardless of how much bandwidth you think you will use, you should ask the question about how much you get and what the overage charges, if any, are.

2. What kind of provisioning system is being used?

This question goes to the core of how much work has been put into the system. Many companies will go with a third party solution. These can work well to get the service up and running quickly but in being able to trouble-shoot and react to customer feedback can be very slow.
3. How many users will you have?

Dedicated servers can use policies/roles to manage mailboxes. Will you have hundreds of users? Be sure that your Hosted Exchange provider allows you to create your own Policies and Roles and group your users to change settings as easily and quickly as possible.

4. Where is the support located?

In these days of outsourcing, many companies are beginning to outsource their support services as well. Often times the different time zones can result in spotty technical support. Make sure that you will be getting the level of support that you desire.

5. What is their Microsoft Partner level?

Tangible proof that a Hosted Exchange provider is able to live up to their technical requirements to continually maintain Exchanger server is the certification level they have achieved with Microsoft. Microsoft has two levels of certification: Certified Partner and Gold Certified Partner. The Gold Certified Partner level is very challenging technically to attain. If your Hosted Exchange provider is Gold Certified, you know you’re in good hands.

Click here for 5 additional questions you must ask about Exchange Hosting