Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services FAQ

Exchange Hosted Services (formerly FrontBridge Technologies) offer a cost-effective way for enterprises to actively enhance the security and availability of their messaging environment, while instilling confidence that their messaging processes are managed effectively to help them comply with internal policy and regulatory compliance requirements. EHS operates over the Internet as a service and offer the following:

These hosted services provide value to corporate customers regardless of whether they manage their e-mail on-premise or outsource it through a hosting provider by helping eliminate upfront capital investment, free up IT resources, and remove incoming email threats before they reach the corporate firewall. For more information, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/services/

Hosted Exchange offers hosted e-mail through service providers. Exchange Hosted Services do not offer hosted e-mail. They provide messaging services to help manage security and compliance issues that are available to any customer, whether they have an IT staff managing their mail server on-premise or outsource e-mail through a service provider.

Yes – Microsoft hosts these services and begins by provisioning the service for each customer once they have placed an order through a Microsoft partner. Microsoft’s automated provisioning process streamlines the speed at which customers can be implemented. All technical support, during and after implementation, is included in the price of the service and is managed by Client Services, a dedicated support team for Exchange Hosted Services. http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/services/support.mspx

Exchange Hosted Services are available through Microsoft’s many worldwide partners under these licensing options:

For additional licensing details and information on how to procure these services, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/howtobuy

Absolutely. We offer a free 30-day trial of the Hosted Filtering service. To sign up, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/services/trial.mspx

Microsoft offers multiple security products and services for customers to provide them with greater choice in how their technology is deployed, managed, and maintained. With our partners, we are driving to deliver world-class software any way customers choose, whether they want a fully outsourced technology solution, prefer to manage their technology on-premise, or opt for a hybrid approach.

For anti-virus, Microsoft strongly recommends multiple layers of defense to best protect inboxes from malicious threats. A combination of on-premise software and hosted services is the optimal strategy for ensuring your messaging environment is adequately protected.

For spam protection, hosted services deflect unwanted e-mail before it reaches the corporate network, reducing unnecessary load on internal servers. However, customers may tend to prefer one solution over another depending on whether they manage e-mail infrastructure in-house or outsource it through a service provider. For example, customers that already have in-house technical expertise and wish to maintain it, can choose to run Antigen products on premise. Other customers may choose to outsource this expertise to a third party to reduce overall costs and will likely opt for Exchange Hosted Filtering. Those customers seeking to reduce cost and complexity of managing all technologies internally should consider a combination of on-premise and hosted anti-spam and anti-virus technology. Ultimately, it is the customer’s decision which solution they feel is most optimal to protect them from malicious software based on their business requirements. For more guidance, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/securemessaging

In addition to the Hosted Filtering service, Microsoft also offers Hosted Services for compliance, e-mail continuity, and encryption.

Hosted services were once used primarily by small and medium-sized businesses, but we are now also seeing large enterprise customers seeking to outsource technology. Regardless of size, customers are shifting toward a services approach, whether it's service-oriented architecture, on-demand delivery through virtualization, or services running out in the cloud, such as Exchange Hosted Services. Read more about customers using Exchange Hosted Services by checking out our case studies at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/casestudies/

We expect you to be able to choose whether you want an on-premise or hosted e-mail solution. As part of enabling that vision, we see Exchange Server as software that can be consumed as a product to run on-premise or as a service that can be hosted for a customer on their behalf. By having all our capabilities available as a product and as a service, we will be able to provide greater value to a larger number of customers.

IT professionals want flexibility in the way their software is delivered, especially due to the differences in priorities for IT by industry. Some people care most about high uptime. Some care more about easy manageability. Companies want to focus on their core competencies, and they want to reduce the complexity of running IT. The role for partners will certainly change over time as different technologies come and go and customers request new options. That has always been the case. One thing that won't change, however, is our dedication to making great software that works in various environments and working with partners to deliver value to customers.

Volume Licensing (VL) is one of the primary licensing programs that Microsoft uses to go to market with its products and services. Through Volume Licensing, Microsoft distributes 74 products in 38 languages with 97 programs specific to the channel in over 100+ countries. Currently, nearly 800,000 channel partners participate in the program worldwide working through its 70+ global subsidiaries. Below are a few helpful links to better understand the Volume Licensing Programs:

Exchange Hosted Services are available through Microsoft’s many worldwide partners under these licensing options:

For additional licensing details and information on how to buy these services, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/howtobuy

On April 1, 2006, EHS will be available in North America, Latin America, and Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA). In July 2006, these services will be available in Asia Pacific (APAC).

Typically a customer purchases Microsoft software through a Microsoft reseller. Open and Open Value licenses are purchased through Microsoft Value-Added Resellers (VAR). Select licenses and Indirect Enterprise Agreements are purchased through Large Account Resellers (LAR). Direct Enterprise Agreements are purchased through an Enterprise Software Advisor (ESA). Hosted Services can also be purchased through a Service Provider partner under the SPLA program. For more information on how to purchase these services, please visit: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/howtobuy/default.mspx

Yes. We offer a free 30-day trial of the Hosted Filtering service. To sign up, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/services/trial

Yes. The customer just needs to add Exchange Hosted Services to their existing EA under the “Additional Products” section of the agreement. Due to the flexibility of Volume Licensing’s Online Services, this addition is just simply prorated for the remainder of the contract length.

Microsoft will create a monthly report and notify the customer and account manager if applicable when a customer is close to reaching their storage limits.

There is no requirement to become a Value-Added Reseller (VAR). Any partner can become a "registered" VAR by reselling Microsoft through licensed Distributors. They simply need to establish a relationship with any one of the Distributors. A VAR can become a "Certified" or "Gold Certified" member through obtaining certain competencies through the Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP). VARs have the ability to resell Open and Open Value licensing programs. Large Account Resellers (LAR) have the ability to buy and sell Open licenses in the same way that a VAR does through Distributors. However, LARs can also sell Select licenses and Indirect Enterprise Agreements directly on behalf of Microsoft where there is no Distributor involved. To find out more about how to become a Microsoft reseller, visit the Microsoft Partner Program Site.