Google Apps Vs Microsoft Hosted Exchange Microsoft Hosted Exchange and
Google Apps Vs Microsoft Hosted Exchange
Microsoft Hosted Exchange and Google Apps are two of the primary competitors in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market. The small-scale and medium scale companies world wide choose to implement the in house e-mail hosting services of these service providers to control their network and get access to the email network from anywhere where the system is available. As opposed to spending a large amount of time, energy and funds on upkeep and management of their network, small to big sized organizations could easily benefit from these kinds of services for offering email services with a 99.9% uptime and also providing an effective recovery and back-up control.
In earlier times, Microsoft didn’t have significant rivals in this market. Organizations didn’t have a lot of choices so it was a normal practise to use Microsoft Exchange for e-mail services. Nonetheless, in the course of the last few years Microsoft is dealing with a lot of competition in this market. Many good alternatives have arrived in the market in the last few years. Google Apps is probably the most significant opponent of Microsoft in this segment these days. A large number of firms today like Google Apps or are interested in knowing which communication platform will be perfect for their company needs. Therefore, let’s talk about the two solutions and their common characteristics and dissimilarities.
Similarities Between Google Apps And Microsoft Hosted Exchange
Even though, Microsoft Hosted Exchange has an unequalled past record and is still a preferred choice for such type of services but Google Apps is maturing fast. Both of them offer a particular range of general services and have many similar characteristics, for instance,
- The email services of each of the Microsoft Hosted Exchange and Google Apps are quick and reliable with a good up-time.
- Both Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange present a friendly user interface with a great web based interface for getting access to email messages on the Internet.
- Both of them deliver top-quality junk mail blocking solution.
- Each of them provide e-mail archival features in user email accounts.
- Both Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange are equally good in checking and monitoring virus softwares.
- Each of them permit more than one domains for each user account.
- Both Google Apps and Microsoft Exchange offer great documents and guidance for their solutions.
Some Distinctive Attributes Microsoft Hosted Exchange And Google Apps
Since we have discussed the basic similarities between these services, let us talk about the dissimilarities between them and examine the options given by them.
- Google Apps is much cheaper than Microsoft Exchange. Google Apps will charge you a flat fee of $50 annually for a single user account while Microsoft charges ten dollars each month for each user account.
- Microsoft Exchange offers only 1 Gigabyte of storage space for every user whilst Google Apps offers 25 GB per user account.
- Microsoft Exchange gives some great features related to delegation of access to other individuals. The desktop client would allow you to access other people’s e-mail, contacts, diary, tasks and records readily. Google Apps just lets sharing of diary info.
- Microsoft does not give comprehensive document sharing and collaboration options without charge. You have to spend on its Sharepoint services. On the other hand, Google’s Google Docs service gives fantastic document collaboration characteristics without any additional charge. Furthermore, video conferencing and Google Talk chatting application are a few of the other fantastic capabilities presented by Google Apps but Microsoft Exchange doesn’t present these types of benefits.
- Google Apps does present ways to integrate with Active directory but Microsoft Exchange is quite easy to integrate with AD.
- One of the most prominent features provided by Microsoft Exchange is its simple integration with mobile phones. Microsoft Exchange can handle all types of iPhones, Windows mobiles, smartphones, Blackberries etc. Google Apps also offer support for mobile devices but Microsoft Exchange’s support for mobile phones is far superior to the Google Apps.
After looking at Exchange vs Google, we can say that Google Apps is an appropriate solution for firms that need a cheaper solution to their email services needs. Firm that do not require comprehensive support for mobile devices and require limited delegation to access features can simply think about Google Apps with confidence. However, if you’re a big business that will require all sort of sophisticated email services on mobile devices or have a large number of users who would want to link to your organization’s network by means of their blackberries or iPhones then you need to spend money on Microsoft Exchange. It is more suitable that you know and review your own requirement before getting the services of any of the companies.