When is the right time to host your own exchange server?

When is the right time to host your own exchange server

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This is a question asked by most growing businesses that have not yet made the investment in an exchange server.

For new and small businesses, it is not cost effective to host exchange. The server requires management, is quite a large investment and as there are only a handful of users, there is no real return on the investment.

For larger businesses with 15+ employees, the benefits of an on-site exchange server make the investment worthwhile.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 has a number of important features designed to help growing businesses increase their efficiency and provides a solid platform for internal and external email communications.

Shared calendars allow each user to have their own calendar and access to other calendars so, for example, meetings can be planned with automated reminders being sent to alert relevant users when the meeting is due to start.

Small businesses looking to invest in their first server should look at Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011 Standard which includes Exchange Server 2010.

Small Business Server Essentials is a new server operating system from Microsoft that relies heavily on cloud services. A hybrid of web hosted and server hosted exchange offers unique features to small and growing businesses.

A major consideration for any company looking to host their own exchange server is data security. This includes both network security (preventing access from hackers or unauthorised personnel), and also data backup in case of data loss caused by a fire, flood or theft of the server itself.

Software is available to automate the backup procedure of exchange, from vendors such as Symantec and Tandberg Data. A popular backup medium for small to medium sized businesses is RDX, a removable rugged data cartridge.

The benefits of hosting exchange

Employees have access to shared contacts and calendars

Emails are stored on the server and backed up centrally for increased security

Any viruses in emails can be dealt with on the server, users do not risk infecting their computers

Files sent via email between local users take seconds rather than minutes or hours if sent via hosted email services such as gmail or hotmail

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