Forrester Research sees value in cloud-based e-mail, finding it less expensive than on-premise solutions up to 15,000 seats. What side of the fence is your business on, or does it use a hybrid on-premise/cloud approach?Long relegated as a parlor trick for small businesses, hosted or SAAS (software as a service) e-mail systems from
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo Zimbra, Cisco PostPath and others have become more viable in the low-end of large enterprises.
SAAS or cloud-based e-mail systems are cost effective for companies or
divisions up to 15,000 users, determined Forrester Research analyst Ted
Schadler, who surveyed IT professionals at 53 North American and
European enterprises to find out where they run their e-mail and other
messaging and collaboration services.
Schadler found that while cloud-based email has historically appealed
to small businesses, the costs and hassles of managing on-premise
e-mail combined with the growing capabilities of Google, Microsoft and
others means that SAAS providers' sweet spot is growing to customers
with up to 15,000 mailboxes. Schadler added:
The crossover point for when generic cloud-based email is cheaper
than on-premise e-mail is about 15,000 users. While many factors,
including staffing efficiency, mailboxes per server, and operating
systems costs, can move this crossover point, this 15,000-user
crossover is a rule of thumb that is validated by the number of firms
of this size moving to a hosted Exchange provider.
Read the rest of this article on eWEEK.com.
Online Media 
