SMBs see 50 pc cost savings through hosted solutions

HOUSTON, TEXAS: The Planet, the world's largest privately held dedicated hosting company, has announced the availability of a new white paper that reflects more than 50 percent cost savings for customers who use its hosted Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) solution.

Prepared by Frost & Sullivan's Stratecast Partners, the white paper compares hosted solutions with the do-it-yourself, in-house approach over the course of a three-year period. The company plans to deliver the new hosted solution in September.

The white paper -- titled "The Planet's Hosted Microsoft SBS Service: An Attractive IT Outsourcing Solution for Small Businesses" -- weighs the cost of an in-house, do-it-yourself approach compared with The Planet's hosted Microsoft SBS solution. The study evaluates the three-year total cost of ownership based on server costs, software licensing fees, security, lease premiums, dedicated Internet access, utilities and in-house administration.

E-mail and messaging solutions are mission-critical business applications for any organization -- large or small -- and are an expensive proposition for customers. With a hosted Microsoft SBS solution, delivered through a dedicated network of system integrators, The Planet offers a complete enterprise-class "IT portfolio-in-a-box" that includes Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office SharePoint and Microsoft SQL ServerM. Backed by The Planet's world-class data centers and network, Stratecast's research validates the business and IT value.

The Planet provides small and medium businesses (SMBs), including reduced IT management costs, and increased flexibility and security.
"As a system integrator, our SMB customers rely heavily on e-mail and messaging services as the core foundation of their business," said Software Decisions, Inc. (SDi) Vice President Doug McReaken. "With The Planet's hosted Microsoft SBS, our customers can take advantage of a customized e-mail, messaging and database solution that's packaged with the security of enterprise-quality data centers. Our customers have to scrutinize even the smallest IT investments, and a hosted SBS solution offers significant financial and business justification."'

"SMBs face a number of challenges in building an out-of-the-box solution for e-mail and messaging," said The Planet's vice president of marketing and product management Steve Kahan. "With The Planet's hosted SBS solution, we deliver an enterprise-grade solution backed by a world-class IT infrastructure. Coupled with cost savings of more than 50 percent compared with an in-house approach, The Planet's hosted Microsoft SBS solution provides clear and measurable business and IT benefits for the SMB community."

Stratecast White Paper Highlights

The financial investment required to purchase, operate and internally maintain a packaged Microsoft SBS solution can be an overwhelming proposition for SMB customers. Enlisting a provider like The Planet to host Microsoft SBS solutions delivers significant costs savings, and increased reliability and security. Stratecast's research also concludes that The Planet's hosted solution:

· Eliminates significant capital investment in software licenses, hardware purchases and maintenance contracts required with an in-house approach
· Delivers reliability, security and enterprise-level SLAs to ensure business continuity
· Provides a staff of trained IT experts that are available 24x7x365
· Scales resources to meet fluctuations in business needs

CIOL Bureau