Microsoft Hosted Exchange SaaS Model in Demand

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This month Parallels, a provider of virtualization and automation software that optimizes computing across major hardware, operating systems, and virtualization platforms, announced an uptick in deployments of business class email and a move from on-premise to cloud services by its hosting provider partners.

“Email continues to be the most popular form of business communication today,” observes Philbert Shih, research analyst at Tier1 Research. “But in order to save on IT spending, SMBs and enterprises are increasingly making the move from on-premise email deployments to a hosted model in order to cut back on hardware, maintenance and consulting costs. We continue to see a steadily growing understanding of the advantages of hosted application delivery in the marketplace.”

Parallels reports that hosters, telecommunication providers, and MSPs are leading the industry trend and providing hosted email services to SMBs in a cloud model, with capabilities that were historically only available to large enterprises. Microsoft Hosted Exchange offers SMBs a cost-effective alternative to managing an in-house email server. The company says its Parallels Automation is used by cloud services providers around the world including Apptix in the U.S., Cobweb in Europe, and GMO HOSTING & SECURITY, INC. (GMO-HS) in Asia, as well as Telcos such as Portugal Telecom and Sunrise.

“Microsoft is very pleased with the growth of our partners offering Microsoft Hosted Exchange,” comments John Zanni, general manager of the Worldwide Software Plus Services Industry for the Communications Sector at Microsoft Corp. “SMBs continue to get the benefits of advanced messaging and collaboration features that large businesses have been using for years in a pay-as-you-go, software-plus-services model.”

According to a Gartner report from last year, Microsoft Hosted Exchange is expected to grow to 35 million users by 2012, representing an 88 percent compound annual growth rate.