Dec 17, 2010 14:00 GMT  ·  By

The latest iteration of Exchange Server 2010 features an array of built-in features designed to provide customers with high availability, site resilience and disaster recovery, but its predecessors are less equipped to handle server outages.

There are third-party solutions from a variety of providers set up to ensure that an organization’s emails are still accessible even if the Exchange 2007 or 2003 server is down.

The latest example comes from Google, which announced last week that it was making available Google Message Continuity, a service powered by Postini to Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2003 customers.

This week, Microsoft is telling companies still running Exchange 2010’s precursors that they should carefully consider the implications of embracing Google Message Continuity.

Julie White – director of Microsoft Exchange product management is revealing that Google Message Continuity does not provide a seamless transition for users in the eventuality of an Exchange server outage.

Indeed, customers that opt for the Mountain View-based search giant’s to backup mail in the Google Cloud will require separate Gmail accounts in order to access their messages.

“This introduces a very different user experience and doesn’t support features like Outlook folders. Additionally, Google requires a different password provided by the Exchange administrator.

“In the event of a failure, the user will need to switch from Outlook to a new Gmail account and log in with the new password. In looking at the three options, Google’s introduces the most user disruption,” she explains.

According to Microsoft, companies running older versions of Exchange should upgrade to Exchange Server 2010 in order to benefit from features such as database availability groups, mailbox database copies, Active Manager, datacenter switchovers, and recovery databases.

For those that upgrading their email servers is not really an option, White notes that it would still be best to go for availability solutions from LiveOffice or Dell (Email Continuity) rather than for what Google has to offer.

White also notes that adopting Google Message Continuity implies that customers will increase complexity across their infrastructure.

“In the Google offering, a separate Google Sync Server is required to connect Gmail to Exchange. Additionally, any customer of Google Message Continuity must switch to Google’s anti-virus and anti-spam product,” she said.

Again, the software giant’s answer is Exchange 2010, which has indeed simplified enormously the processes of deployment and management associated with high availability environments.

In addition, White argues that the lack of experience is yet another aspect that works against Google and its Cloud Message Continuity offering. In this regard, the Redmond giant is pointing users to existing partners which have been providing high availability solutions for Exchange for years now.