Google has been focusing a lot on the enterprise sector with Google Apps and it has been paying off to some degree, the suite now has 25 million users. But it's not even a speck compared to Microsoft's market share and Google would sure like to get some of that. To this end, it is now launching a transitioning tool for Microsoft Exchange, dubbed, how else, Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange. The tool is designed to help companies get their email, calendar and contact data into Apps.

"Today we're making it a lot easier for customers of Microsoft Exchange to go Google with Apps. Google Apps Migration for Microsoft® Exchange is a new server-side tool that migrates your company's email, calendar and contact data from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps," Abhishek Bapna, product manager for Google Apps, wrote.

Google lists four main advantages to using the migration tool:
· Easy: set it up in just 4 steps;
· Efficient: select the combination of mail, calendar and contact data that you want to move, with the option of doing so in phases;
· Fast: migrate hundreds of users at the same time;
· Painless: employees can continue to use Microsoft Exchange during the migration without interruption or any involvement on their part.

Microsoft Exchange is one of the most popular email and productivity suites in the enterprise sector and making it easier for companies to move their data to Google Apps should help with the ones contemplating the switch but apprehensive about the migration process.

The migration tool works with Exchange 2003 and 2007 and Google is offering it for free for its Premier and Education Edition users. It wouldn't make a lot of sense to charge for a tool like this, anyway. Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange is available for both on-site and hosted versions of the email suite and users can continue to employ any of the Microsoft apps during the process.