Event
Summary
Mail.com Inc., a leading global provider of Internet messaging services
for businesses, announced it will provide Microsoft Exchange 2000 outsourcing
to the business market. As an official Microsoft Exchange Application
Service Provider (ASP), Mail.com offers its clients significant cost savings,
access to the latest Microsoft technology and Mail.com's market-proven
expertise in managing e-mail for the corporate enterprise. [Source:
BUSINESS WIRE]
Market
Impact
Mail.com has joined MCI WorldCom and Critical Path, United Messaging and
numerous other ASPs in the outsourced mailbox count race. They all offer
a Service Level Agreement, high levels of redundancy and strong technical
expertise from an engineering perspective. They are all well funded, with
MCI WorldCom and Critical Path having the advantage of a much greater
level of corporate viability and longevity when compared and contrasted
to startups such as United Messaging.
While
Mail.com has been around for a while, most Internet users associate the
name with a free POP3 mailbox accessible via a web browser. Through the
"official" Microsoft Exchange agreement Mail.com hopes to increase its
market share. We believe that whether a firm is official or unofficial
is reasonably insignificant when it is viewed as a component of the 'pie'
rather than the whole. Perhaps one of the key differentiators is Mail.com's
proprietary MailZone and FaxMailer products which allow for Fax integration
and enhanced security.
User
Recommendations
Outsourcing messaging has become attractive to today's fast paced organizations
that are looking for an easier way to maintain a messaging system. Internally
hosted e-mail systems require constant maintenance and are administrative
headaches. In addition, finding and keeping an employee with messaging
expertise is growing more and more difficult. Information Technology (IT)
Departments' turn over rates have lent themselves to the IT department
"revolving door" concept. So if you are inclined to outsource your mail
make certain to analyze at least three vendors. Due to the infancy of
the ASP messaging field, financial negotiating through multiple inquiries
will give you greater leverage in the final choice from a cost and support
perspective.