Microsoft Exchange Alternatives

[CataclysmZA]

I'd recommend Office 356 as well, its a great alternative and would be worth pricing against Gmail, especially if you take into account SLAs and EULAs that the two companies offer, as well as admin tools and maintenance required to keep everyone happy. Near as I'm aware, Microsoft offers a business package that says "your data is your baby and we won't pry into it" - Gmail doesn't have a clause like that.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/enterprise.aspx

 

[HavocXphere]

Near as I'm aware, Microsoft offers a business package that says "your data is your baby and we won't pry into it" - Gmail doesn't have a clause like that.

Google apps commercial does not fall under the standard gmail t&c ...it has separate privacy rules.

 

[CataclysmZA]

Google apps commercial does not fall under the standard gmail t&c ...it has separate privacy rules.

And it also requires notification that you'll be deleting data and whatnot should you choose to close the account/accounts wholesale. Google just has a lot more clauses that keep your data clung to their servers in the hope that you won't leave.

OP, the University of Berkely made a change to Office 365 last year and posted a detailed assessment of the two services, which you can read up on here. Security and account security is one reason in particular why I wouldn't choose Google Apps for an office environment if sensitive data was being passed around. However, setting everything up, data retention policies and service uptime are better on Google's services and they do offer a good deal to small to medium businesses.

 

[OMB]

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[Nuro]

Near as I'm aware, Microsoft offers a business package that says "your data is your baby and we won't pry into it" - Gmail doesn't have a clause like that.

We use Google Apps for over 150 users, and the commercial T&Cs are different, that is why you can also disable all advertising when you start paying. The thing about Google Apps is it scales really well, especially when you have people from all over the world working remotely.

And it also requires notification that you'll be deleting data and whatnot should you choose to close the account/accounts wholesale.

No. It's a simple click from the management console, a warning that the data will be unrecoverable, and that's it. We integrate Google Apps with our LDAP server, with a Google provided tool. The deletions are automatic for us at this point. We delete in LDAP, account in Google goes bye bye.

Banks have started using Google Apps, so it can't be that bad. You can NEVER trust anyone with your data unless you host internally.

 

[Abe]

Kerio Connect has served me well in the past. We run it on an old Windows Vista PC.

http://www.kerio.com/connect