THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"

There are two kinds of email people... people that think Exchange is good.. and people that want to outsource it.... and on the Home Server blog the discussion came up about email and how home users like email....  email but not on their boxes... I'll go out on a limb even more that I think Hosted email is going to creep into the small business marketspace more and more.....it was quite ironic and funny that I got pinged by David Spark on a day that we were talking about Outlook and calendars and what not..... David was/is working on the Hosted Email wiki and provided a few more links for the point/counterpoints on Hosted Exchange....

http://blogs.msdn.com/tzink/archive/2007/01/10/the-case-for-outsourced-message-management.aspx
http://saunderslog.com/2007/01/22/the-future-of-marketing-communications/

I myself am using a "hosted" solution in front of my Exchange server in order to better protect our network at the office.  Why?  Because I wanted to better protect the server and I wanted the spam housed elsewhere.  I didn't want it to be my problem anymore.  Some use it as a archive solution for regulatory needs to not overtax their server.   

David's target market on the wiki for argues that hosted messaging is needed for midsized firms, but I think even the SOHO's need it too....I think that it's even a win/win for the Windows Home server.  I think they should bundle it up with a Hosted Exchange solution so if was used as a SOHO server that the folks would get all the benefits of Exchange... without Exchange.  Why shouldn't Mom be able to look at Johnny's calendar which is an event typically reserved for an Exchange only setting? 

I think hosted Exchange is also a warm fuzzy.  It brings up the issue that I see with many folks still using the POP3 connector..... the warm fuzzy issue that comes up from the newsgroups and my SBS var/vap gang all the time... they don't trust the Exchange inside of their servers and I see many of them like the warm fuzzy of ISP based email.  The long running joke by the SBS podcast gang is that we've been transitioning from POP3 Connector since SBS 4.5.  Now one could argue that they don't trust their SBS box to be able to deliver their email is more of a statement that they are not ensuring they are buying good enough equipment...but there comes a time when email is mission critical that they don't want to just rely on a single server set up anymore.

And that's when hosted email starts to look better....

Call me wacko.. but I think as we go forward that I don't think you can offer a messaging solution without a "warm fuzzy" like this....regardless of it's a hosted solution in front of an Exchange box... or if it's a totally hosted Email instead of an Exchange box....

What do you think?

Look at that feature chart....so where do you feel comfortable with where your email is housed... and where do you think it will be a in few years?