ommunication is one of the most important paradigm on which a business stands. In today’s world, e-mail is still the fastest means of formal communication. Even though it has been around since mid 1960’s, never before has its glory reached the present stature. The importance of email, especially for people who conduct online business is unquestionable.

It is possible to host your own mail server using sendmail, qmail or exim, among host of other MTA’s. But – “Is there peace of mind?” What if the e-mail is delayed? What if the final confirmation mail of the very important deal, never reaches your inbox?

When so much depends on your e-mail service, you should depend on mail service providers who provide you with professional solutions such as Zimbra, Scalix and MS Exchange among others. On the other hand, you can purchase these solutions and implement them yourself. You would just need a server with network connectivity, to get started.

Unlike traditional MTA’s which are free and open source and can be deployed along with web and file servers on the same physical server, dedicated e-mail hosting service addresses the need of small to large business groups, who care to shell out extra bucks for professional service.

Now let me walk you through the top 8 reasons for switching over to a dedicated e-mail hosting service.

Collaboration

– You get an one stop solution for all your office collaboration needs. There are calendars, events and documents which can be created and shared on the go. Now, there is no need to switch between various sites for email, documents and event hosting.

Clustering and High-availability

– Ever thought if a server goes down unexpectedly, how much loss you have to incur for the failure. Would not it be great, if another server would do the work while the failed server is brought up back again. This is termed as clustering the servers for high-availability. Zimbra, Scalix and MS Exchange provide you with this feature and the implementation is much simpler and smoother than traditional MTA’s.

At your service

– When you have a problem, a support team will be there to handle your queries. As these are paid services, you will be given full support. You can concentrate more on your core work rather than pestering around with mail issues. There is genuine competition in this market, so expect a better service.

The Xtra advantage

– Advanced features delivered – such as tags for easy categorization of mails, backups, spam and virus protection, encrypted mail delivery and mail archiving.

Security

– Emails have confidential data about your business. These tools ensure that your mail is safe all the time. Encrypting mail messages while sending them and securing the mail-server, keeps your data safe.

Latest technology

– Your mail system is always upgraded to ensure that you have the fastest, latest and most secure technology at your service. The e-mail hosting service providers work closely with other firms dealing with mail servers and their add-ons so that you always have the best combination.

Crucial uptime

– The uptime for any production server is crucial so that you have your data at your finger-tips anytime and every-time. E-mail hosting service providers ensure that the servers are in healthy condition and they sure can handle the load of your business emails.

Mobile support

– With dropping Internet rates and wide range of Internet-enabled mobile phones available, the urge to remain connected is high. Mobile compatible web interfaces are supported so that you are never far from the latest mails delivered to you.

Popular e-mail collaboration suite’s

Now lets discuss about some popular e-mail collaboration solutions.

1. Zimbra – Zimbra was first acquired by Yahoo and now by Vmware. It is a collaboration suite featuring email, calendar and inbuilt-chat. It has two both free and paid editions.

2. Microsoft Exchange Server – It is a collaborative application from Microsoft. Having electronic mail, calendaring as well as data-storage and voice mail integration. It is mainly aimed at high-end organizations using Microsoft line of products.

3. Scalix – It is based on open source and runs on linux. Support MS Outlook among other email clients. Among other regular features, its wireless connection with Blackberry is noticeable.

With all these solid reasons in hand, I think it’s time to switch over. I hope you never have to say… “That mail never reached my inbox!“.

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About the Author

It has been four months and some odd days since Vicky Karmakar joined the Poornam family.
A graduate of Information Technology branch, Vicky has always been interested in exploring the newer ventures of the Open source technology with an acute inclination towards network security. He also harbors a passion towards writing poetry and cooking culinary delicacies.

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Co-Authored by Sankar.H