Before you go ahead and attempt to forget your Windows Live Hotmail user account and password, you should know that the new email service, courtesy of Microsoft and Cbeyond, is addressed exclusively at small and medium-sized businesses. Moreover, the new email service introduced at the Mobile World Congress 2008 is limited to the U.S., planned to debut in Atlanta, and then to move on to Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego and San Francisco. The service is designed to provide users with access to on-the-go business-class e-mail on the desktop, by using whether a mobile device or a web browser.
"SMBs today want the same productivity tools and capabilities that enterprises have long
enjoyed, and they often look to a single source that can easily and cost-effectively address their full range of communications requirements," said Michael O'Hara, general manager of the Communications Sector at Microsoft. "By working with a service provider like Cbeyond, SMBs are able to really focus on their most important priorities - serving their customers and growing their business."
Cbeyond has built a package which includes not only enterprise-class e-mail, based on hosted Microsoft Exchange, but also expands beyond that. In this regard, users will be able to enjoy advanced connectivity involving anything from T-1 broadband Internet access to hardware and air time for mobile phone service. But at the heart of the new email service is the Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 which accompanied Windows Vista and the Office 2007 System to the market more than a year ago.
"By working with Microsoft, we can now offer Cbeyond's customers the first hosted service based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 that is fully integrated with mobile access, all from a single provider," said Brent Cobb, vice president of product marketing for Cbeyond. "We've seen significant customer demand for this service; delivering a seamless, enterprise-class messaging and collaboration experience to our SMB customers will give them the ability to compete using services traditionally reserved for large enterprises."
