Email has become something of a critical utility, much like the electricity that powers our offices: it must be available 24 hours a day, it must provide reliable performance, and its cost must be reasonable. It has become the key communications and file transport vehicle for most individuals in business today and Microsoft Exchange, as the leading email platform in use in the workplace, is one of the key messaging systems upon which users and organizations rely to do their work.

This white paper, sponsored by Concentric, discusses the critical nature of email and the importance of understanding the total cost of ownership for providing email. It also provides some examples of the cost of providing Exchange on-premise for organizations of various sizes developed from a cost model developed by Osterman Research. Finally, the white paper presents a brief overview of Concentric's hosted Exchange offerings.