Rackspace Updates Hybrid Messaging With Enhanced Calendar

Hosted services provider Rackspace Hosting is updating its Hybrid Email solution, a self-described “custom mix of Hosted Microsoft Exchange and the business-focused Rackspace Email platform on a single domain. The goal is to enhance the calendar view across the two component parts. The update also strives to speed up the Rackspace webmail client. Here’s the scoop.

Rackspace claims the 1.7 million users of its hybrid messaging solutions save money by allowing the substitution of the Rackspace Email platform on a domain where Exchange is just not called for — cutting down on license costs.

“We’ve learned from our customers that, on average, only a small percentage of employees really need and use the advanced features of Microsoft Exchange, yet many businesses are paying a lot more to run Exchange for every single user,” said Kirk Averett, director of product for cloud applications at Rackspace.

In addition to the new calendar views available today, Rackspace Hybrid Email offers free hosted Microsoft SharePoint, compatibility with mobile and desktop mail clients, a simple control panel, and Rackspace’s trademark fanatical support.

Now, MSPmentor has heard a lot about hosted Microsoft Exchange — and usually when we hear “hybrid” in regards to cloud computing, they mean a combination on- and off-premises solution, not two different messaging platforms on the same domain.

What I’m trying to say is that with that claimed 1.7 million users of Rackspace Hosting’s unique hybrid, why don’t we hear more about this type of service?

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