Datasheet

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Part I: An Overview of Exchange Server 2007
Defining the Hosted Services elements
As mentioned, hosted services focus mainly on antivirus and antispam sup-
port. An important issue to consider when you review these services is that
they all integrate directly into your current Exchange Server solution, so
you can view them as an extension to your setup. To obtain the functionality
that these services provide, you make a simple Mail eXtension (MX) record
change. Theoretically, you should be able to use these services with other
e-mail server offerings, although Microsoft is definitely tightlipped about this
potential use of Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services. The hosted services
that Microsoft provides include four elements:
 Hosted Filtering: Helps you avoid malware by removing messages that
contain content that could compromise your network. You can find a
number of alternatives to this feature such as Postini (http://www.
postini.com/). Theoretically, Hosted Filtering will provide you with a
better experience because you can hook it directly into Outlook for your
users. One of the most important considerations for this service is that
Microsoft provides policy-based management, which means that you
can create business rules for off-site implementation rather than rely on
the service provider to maintain rules for you.
 Hosted Archive: Creates an off-site e-mail archive to help your organi-
zation meet government- and client-mandated retention requirements.
One of the interesting features of this service is that it provides spam
checking before it archives any messages, which ensures that your
data store is free of unwanted messages. You can possibly get the same
type of archival using other means, such as Amazon’s Simple Storage
Service (http://www.amazon.com/S3-AWS-home-page-Money/b/
ref=sc_fe_l_2?node=16427261), but using this hosted archive is
substantially less work.
 Hosted Encryption: Encrypts e-mail messages to ensure that no one but the
intended recipient can read them. Many businesses today require secure
e-mail because of the content of e-mail messages. In the past, e-mail didn’t
contain company secrets, the strategy for your latest acquisition, or other
information you don’t want others to see. This service makes it possible to
create business secrets away from prying eyes. The interesting aspect of
this service is that you use policies to determine how and when encryption
occurs. In addition, the encrypt takes place without user interaction. As far
as the user is concerned, the encryption is invisible.
 Hosted Continuity: Preserves access to e-mail messages during and
after an emergency. This service provides a thirty-day rolling e-mail
archive so that you can access existing messages. The service doesn’t
let you download new e-mail messages, so you can’t use it in place of
an e-mail server. The message store is fully searchable, so you can find
messages of interest quickly.