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Apple Admits Exchange Still Runs Business
Snow Leopard was just released last week. Lots of deep technical goodies included, but one main benefit to users: the Mac is now fully Exchange compatible. Wait, I thought Exchange was dead? Even Apple admits that Exchange is winning in corporate America. It works. It is installed. It is advancing.
I have discussed before the impact Google will have on Microsoft, and the free email movement is no different. The problem with Exchange is not what it does, it’s what it costs. Period. People are not unhappy with Exchange, they just don’t like its price tag. We agree. Our offer of Exchange is $12.50/month per seat. We know this is compelling, versus running in house (another post on that in the future), but it is not cheap. And it is overkill for many users. Let me explain.
IMAP solutions today offer incredible features. Our own Rackspace Email allows full IMAP with shared calendaring, mobility sync, rich webmail, delegation, etc., all for $1/month per seat. Gmail is similar. Exchange is 1200% more. Exchange has features IMAP does not have – scheduling manager, rich sync settings, AD integration, etc. We believe you should have both. Most of your employees do not need all the features of Exchange. Just give it to those that do, give Rackspace Email to the rest.
Today, almost 50% of our Exchange customers split their employees across the two mail systems. In fact, the average business that splits puts about 80% of their users on Rackspace Email, with the remaining on Exchange. At this rate, you get an average cost per seat of less than $3.50/month. That is almost 20% less than Google Apps – all while keeping Exchange for your most demanding users.
Try it. Just to entice you, we will give you a free copy of Snow Leopard for any Exchange seat running a Mac between now and October 1st. Keep Exchange, save money. It’s possible.
We’ll Pay for Your Upgrade to Apple’s Snow Leopard OS!
Update Feb 1, 2010: This promotion will end on February 28, 2010
We thought we would generously build some press around the launch of Apple’s new operating system for their popular computers. We know Steve Jobs has a tough time getting attention so we are going to build some excitement for him. And what better way to do that than giving Snow Leopard upgrades away for free?
The new version of Mac Mail that ships today with Snow Leopard natively supports Exchange 2007. Sign up for Microsoft Exchange as a new Rackspace Email & Apps customer and we’ll pay for each Snow Leopard upgrade used to access one of your Hosted Exchange mailboxes. We’re paying for up to 1,000 Snow Leopard upgrade licenses so don’t miss out! We’ll credit your account $29 on day one for each mailbox accessed by a Mac. How cool is that? As if you needed another reason to sign up for our world class service!
Now you have an easy way to upgrade your company to the latest and greatest Mac operating system on our nickel! And you’ll get Microsoft Exchange service available for less than it would cost to run an Exchange server in house. You’ll enjoy all the power of Exchange native to your Mac without any of the headaches.
And with any luck our promotion will help Apple get their new OS noticed!
Your Next Steps and the Fine Print
Rackspace Email & Apps will reimburse new customers $29 (regardless of price paid) for each Hosted Exchange mailbox that is accessed by a Mac computer running the Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) operating system. This promotion ends on February 28, 2010. Online retail customers must enter the promotional code“777” into the Sales ID located in the signup process. Offline retail customers must mention the promotion code “Snow Leopard” to their sales rep prior to submitting their order. Resellers are not eligible for this promotion.
Customers will be required to fill out a form and fax or scan and email it along with proof of purchase for the Snow Leopard licenses that will result in credits being applied to their Rackspace Email & Apps account. Only Microsoft Exchange mailboxes accessed by Mac computers and purchased in the new customer’s initial order will qualify for this promotion. Rackspace Email & Apps reserves the right to end this promotion at any time. If you have additional questions please engage us online.
Help Us Get to SXSW 2010
South-by-Southwest (aka SXSW) happens to be where one of the biggest parties happens for the web technology industry. Each year tens of thousands of people from around the world end up taking over Austin, TX for a few weeks to celebrate music, film, and emerging technology.
Each year they open up the conference to allow attendees to present their own panels or presentations to the masses. This year Rackspace has submitted 11 potential topics and we need your help to get in. Right now SXSW has opened up the Panel Picker for 2010 which allows anyone to vote on topics they would like to see presented at the conference.
You can check out the topics that we have submitted and vote on the ones you would like to see presented. You will need to sign up for an account to vote, but its a painless process. You can also check out and vote on other Interactive Panels, Music and Film Events.
Please note voting closes on September 4th, 2009.
Scrum @ Rackspace – Daily Standup
“Don’t forget to grab your jacket.” The words rang through the office as they rolled off my tongue. I slid my left arm in my jacket while pushing open the door with my right. I wait until the group forms what resembles a circle and we start. If you’re thinking that this sounds like some ritual, you are correct. I am outside with one of our development teams and we are participating in what is called a daily standup.
A daily standup is a quick meeting where the team gathers to discuss a few simple items and is a part of Scrum. We discuss things like what is being worked on, what will be worked on and if there is anything keeping them from getting their best work done. To be clear, this is not a status report meeting; it is a meeting where the team can gather to discuss what is going on. As a project manager in this environment, it is simply my job to facilitate the meeting and take note of anything that is not helping the team get their best work done.
What I’ve seen in these meetings are team members starting to work on something new and another team member jumping in to help them. As far as things slowing the team down, I’ve seen things from too many meetings, to slow computers, to external dependencies. The main goal is for the team to report to themselves and hold themselves accountable for the work they are performing.
A question I have been asked is, do you really meet daily? The answer is a simple yes. If I am in another sprint planning meeting, the team holds the standup without me and notes any roadblocks they may be facing. Another question you may be asking yourself: does everyone meet outside? No, not all teams meet outside; this is just something one of the teams I work with decided to try. Is a jacket necessary? I’d recommend one. But you’re on your own if you decide to wear flip-flops to work that day (yes, this has happened). Lucky for the teams, these meetings are capped at 15 minutes. They’re usually quicker, especially if the temperature is down in the teens. All in all, these meetings are helpful and are a great way to get the team involved in all aspects of their projects.
Introducing Rackspace Archiving — The Cure for Deletion Anxiety
Your finger almost shakes over the mouse, as that little arrow hovers just above the Delete button. What if you need this email later? What if you didn’t read it right the first time? Are you sure you saved the attachment?
Relax. Just delete it, already.
The cure for your deletion anxiety is as simple as a solid email archiving solution. Solutions like Rackspace Archiving store a copy of every inbound and outbound message in an archiving portal, which can be searched at any time, from anywhere with an Internet connection. The best thing is that these copies are generated and delivered to the archive automatically, meaning even the most chaotic users in your office have a perfectly organized email backup system without lifting a finger.
Once all your company’s messages are stored in this archive, finding and retrieving them could not be easier. Since messages are indexed (or prepared for searching capabilities) on multiple dimensions, including email address, time, subject, body text, attachments and more, searches can be performed on very specific criteria. Users can even search within a search. This means that within seconds, the archive system can search through years and years worth of data and find exactly what you’re looking for.
So maybe you will need that email later, or maybe you’ll just need the attachment. But that’s no reason to keep it around now. If you need it later, simply find it in the archive and restore it to an inbox.
Don’t let your deletion anxiety take over your inbox. Get rid of the clutter with Rackspace Archiving.
HostingCon 2009 – Let’s Meet Up
Lots of us from Rackspace will be out at HostingCon 2009 next week in Washington, DC and if you are going to be there let us know – we’d love to set up a time to meet.
Also while you are out there feel free to stop by and say hello to our CTO Bill Boebel who will be part of a presentation by our spam filtering partner, Cloudmark. The topic is on “Next Generation Email Security” and will be on Wednesday, August 12th at 12:45pm that follows the Technology + Operations track.
Seeking Customers for Customer Advisory Board
At Rackspace, we highly value our customer feedback. Our customers are the only ones who truly know what they need and want—so it’s imperative that we hear from them directly and regularly. For this reason, we encourage all of our customers to send in comments via our feedback form and submit product ideas via Idea Central.
Yet, we’ve decided to take an additional proactive step toward gathering customer feedback . . .
We’ve established a Customer Advisory Board (affectionately referred to around here as “CAB”). It’s made up of a wide variety of members, including international customers, resellers, and companies with fewer than five mailboxes—ensuring that we take the needs of every segment into account. CAB members stay in close contact with our Product Team and provide feedback on our beta releases. We use their valuable feedback to direct how we develop our products and services.
We have recently completed our first six-month CAB session, and the members provided us with a wealth of knowledge that will ensure our products are moving in the right direction.
If you’re interested in joining our Customer Advisory Board, and directly impacting the direction of our products and services, just let me know (megan.wohlford [at] rackspace.com).