October 7, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Web host and domain name provider GoDaddy is offering Microsoft Exchange services through a licensing partnership with Microsoft, it was announced yesterday. This is GoDaddy’s first desktop mail offering, and it will utilize Exchange Server 2007. The company is offering two plans suitable for “individuals and small businesses that want to use Microsoft Outlook email client and Exchange messaging server hosted on GoDaddy's infrastructure”.
The first GoDaddy plan offers 2GB of storage and one email address, while the second caters for five email address with 20GB of storage. The packages are available at monthly rates. Both GoDaddy plans come with Personal Outlook, Outlook with Mobile, and Group Outlook with Mobile or the Apple Macintosh equivalent, Entourage 2008. The new offering will sit alongside GoDaddy’s proprietary webmail solution.
“We have many customers who currently use Microsoft Office Outlook for their email. It was only natural that we expanded our offerings to include mobile and group email plans with Microsoft Outlook,” explained Bob Parsons CEO and Founder of GoDaddy. “Our goal is to be a one-stop shop for every customer. Business owners who want the advantage of Microsoft Outlook e-mail plans can rely on us, without worrying about system maintenance.”
"It's about offering customers choice," GoDaddy’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Warren Adelman was reported as saying. "There are people who use the Outlook client, and there are lots of small companies that use an Exchange Server. We didn't want to have to force them to go to a fully web-based environment." Mr. Adelman went on suggest that the move was a response to customers that were looking for a “hosted or cloud-based service”.
Although Microsoft partners are able to offer Exchange Server and SharePoint, Microsoft also offers components of the solutions through its Office Live suite of services.
“This announcement with GoDaddy.com represents an exciting opportunity for business owners to leverage the resources of two industry leaders who understand the needs of businesses and their employees,” added John Zanni, General Manager of Worldwide Hosting at Microsoft. “By expanding our existing partnership, GoDaddy.com is now providing its customers with the benefits of mobile e-mail and Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, in addition to the reliable infrastructure and support that has made GoDaddy.com one of the top hosting services providers worldwide.”
