News

ACS Releases New Option for Exchange E-Mail Hosting

• By Keith Ward
• April 09, 2007

There are two ways to manage an e-mail environment, and each has drawbacks and benefits. Handling e-mail in-house can involve a large up-front investment in equipment and dedicated personnel that understand the intricacies of e-mail maintenance and security. Outsourcing e-mail to a third party can save on initial costs and personnel; however, the ongoing monthly fees and giving up in-house control of an application as mission-critical as messaging is something some businesses are hesitant to do.

Companies considering the second option want to know that uptime, scalability, performance and security are guaranteed.

The goal of this new offering by ACS is to provide that assurance.

"ACS' SolutionOne for Microsoft Exchange relieves the burden that businesses face in implementing and maintaining Exchange environments in-house," said Derrell James, ACS Senior Managing Director, Information Technology Outsourcing, in a press release. "It provides them with an exceptionally reliable and stable system backed by industry-leading experts and the latest technology."

The experts James indicated include ACS' partners in SolutionOne. The partners are Redmond, Wash.-based Azaleos Corp., a company focused on Exchange maintenance and management; Santa Clara, Calif.-based Mimosa Systems, which specializes in e-mail archiving and disaster recovery; and San Carlos, Calif.-based Postini, an e-mail security company.

ACS, a Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, is a Fortune 500 company that provides outsourcing services in a number of IT categories. It states in the press release that its SolutionOne service level agreement will provide 99.9 percent uptime, which for any environment is the key metric for e-mail.