August 29, 2006

Google Apps For Domains, Mocked By A Hosting Company

Intermedia.NET, a company that says it is the "US Leader in Microsoft Exchange Hosting" has released a satirical press release, in which shows the limits of Google Apps for Your Domain. I already showed some of the problems with Google's offer in a previous post, but here is the funny copy from Intermedia.NET:

Intermedia.NET, the US leader in Microsoft Exchange hosting for small and medium businesses (SMBs), today praised the innovative new service, Google Apps for Your Domain. By offering 24x0 support, no wireless access and scanning of company email and documents, Google has bucked the trend of what companies expect from a business email provider. The Apps for your Domain key features:

* 24x0 support. This is important because companies for whom email and schedules are mission-critical will want to know they can pick up a phone and get support 24 hours a day, 0 days per week. Google also gives the option of filling out a support form and receiving an automated response.

* No wireless access. Where Intermedia.NET hosted Exchange gives users access to information via BlackBerry, Treo, Q or any other device, Google has bucked this trend, perhaps suggesting that wireless email is in fact a productivity-sapping distraction for employees.

* Private data read by others. Google Apps for your Desktop again bucks the trend that businesses should not allow outsiders to read their proprietary documents and email. Businesses can rest easy knowing that Google is looking at all emails and documents.

* Ads inside applications. Clearly, employees are more productive when their business applications stream ads for online poker sites and pills to combat ED.

* No uptime guarantee. Rather than a predictable 99.9% uptime guarantee, such as the one offered by Intermedia.NET, Google does not provide a set percentage of the time when email will be up and running. This keeps corporate collaboration more exciting, by allowing staff to guess whether the system will be working or not.

"While we are happy that Google is making people aware that business-quality email is essential for small and medium businesses, we do have some reservations," said Serguei Sofinski, CEO of Intermedia.NET. "There is a large difference between an enterprise-class, proven Microsoft Exchange system with 24x7 fully-managed telephone support and wireless access, and a more basic offering with 24x0 support, embedded ads and no wireless access."

Of course, Intermedia.NET fails to see that Google's offer is free and that they'll launch a premium package without ads and with full support. I wonder if Microsoft has anything to do with this attempt of being brave.

Intermedia.NET:
$29.95/mo
* 100 mailboxes
* 1 GB Mailbox space
* 24x7x365 support
* 99.9% uptime guarantee

Google:
$0/mo
* a lot of mailboxes (I've heard about someone who received 200 mail accounts)
* more than 2.5 GB space and growing 2 GB space
* mail support for admins
* no uptime guarantee

{ Via Inside Google. }

15 comments:

  1. Your information isn't accuate, Google only provides 2 GB in this service.

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  2. Google mail for domains does not appear offer the same amount of storage as gMail. My accounts have a fixed 2GB each.

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  3. I've also had no problem accessing my mail wirelessly. See this support page for details.

    Though I suppose they could be referring to propietary wireless services. Can't stand them.

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  4. Re: wireless & gmail, they work well together. I've been getting my blackberry emails through my gmail account for more than a year. How-to is here.

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  5. We have got 1000 of free accounts for the network of public internet access points and are extremely happy about this service that is also provides with substantial reliability (in some sense - even higher than ISP providers does:).

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  6. [QUOTE]
    a lot of mailboxes (I've heard about someone who received 200 mail accounts)
    [/QUOTE]

    I have got 1000 also
    So no limits in this, you ask & they give

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  7. I am using this service for my domain www.ciberarte.com.br and everything is working fine! The mail server its working finer than my original host. And I can access my mail in my palmtop without a problem. And I dont agree with the criticises regarding privacy. After all, if I dont believe in Google, why can I believe in my host?

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  8. This is an interesting story. I'd have to say I agree with Intermedia.NET - who is now offering a FREE trial of its Exchange 2007 for December. They're also giving away a free copy of Outlook.

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  9. I personally of a fan with Intermedia.NET and agree with them. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

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  10. I've hosted about a dozen small to medium-sized web sites with Intermedia.net since 1999, including two extranets for a Fortune 50 company. They have the best customer service I've ever experienced with ANY hosting company, so I stand by them from a reliability and accountability perspective.

    Intermedia.net's press release was flippant, but let's face it, Google has not provided the service guarantees that are a prerequisite for adoption of their services by enterprises.

    I love Google as much as the next person, but I have to agree with Thomas' comment.

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  11. Google offers free Exchange mail?

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  12. This is completely wrong now, check the facts.

    http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html

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  13. I bet it was accurate when it was posted in august of 2006 :)

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  14. Google has more reputation to protect than companies like Intermedia.net. Intermedia can go offline anytime and who cares but Google going offline? That will be a headline.

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  15. fun to read this now, is intermedia.net still around ?

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