SherWeb

There are a lot of factors to consider when your company wants to use mobile devices such as a Blackberry. While a Blackberry can store things like contact lists, appoint information, and calendars locally it is critical that these devices be connected to some kind of central server in the event the device is lost, stolen, or damaged.

In a nutshell, Blackberries can be supported either by severs hosted and maintained within your company, and hosted exchange services. Hosting your exchange servers locally has the advantage of giving your company complete control over the process, however that can be said about a multitude of things.

Fixing your own car gives you complete control over the process as well, but trying to replace a timing belt without the proper tools and know-how can lead to complete disaster. This pattern also holds true when it comes to exchange servers.

The kinds of things you have to worry about if you host your exchange servers locally are almost too numerous to list. There are concerns about data integrity and security, backups, off-site storage, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Thankfully, hosted exchange servers have a huge advantage in that they are set up and run by experts in the field who know exactly how to ensure that your device is work properly.

A hosted exchange server can handle many aspects of your Blackberry, such as pushing out updates to important meetings if the times change, ensuring that your contact list from your desktop matches the contact list on your Blackberry, and ensuring that email you’ve already deleted at your desk does not end up getting delivered to your Blackberry as well.

Hosted exchange providers also have the advantage of quantity. While it may cost your company thousands of dollars to license the exchange server software, hosted exchange companies frequently have a multiple-installation or “site license” for the software, which is often sold to them at a heavy discount. In addition those providers will be purchasing and setting up hardware in large batches, which also makes it easier for them to provide hosted exchange services at a reasonable price.

When it comes right down to it, if you are considering setting up an exchange server for your business, unless you are going to have a serious enough load or have the technical expertise already available, it is hard to justify not going with hosted exchange services instead of attempting to do it locally.

Find the product that works for you and go for it.