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CHOOSING AN EXCHANGE HOSTING PROVIDER

HERE'S WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN EMAIL SERVICE

If you're switching providers, you 're now probably all too aware that not all solutions are the same, and sometimes price isn't the best indication of service. But doing the right research now can save you from having to make this same transition again. At minimum, you should request the following capabilities and credentials.

EMAIL HOSTING EXPERIENCE, EXPERTISE AND FINANCIAL VIABILITY

Choosing an Exchange ProviderHow long has the vendor been in the hosting or managed email services business? Are they financially viable? What certifications, audits, etc. do they have?

USA.NET has been providing email hosting solutions for over 10 years now, has had a SAS 70 Type II audit executed for 5 consecutive years, and has been named "Top Player" by an independent market research firm. In 2007 USA.NET merged with Perimeter eSecurity, one of the most profitable and stable IT companies today — 575% growth between 2001 and 2005.

EMAIL SERVICES THAT FIT YOUR COMPANY

Does this vendor have the ability to craft customized end-to-end email solutions? How many plans do they offer? What's the breadth and depth of their offerings?

Email hosting that fits your businessUSA.NET offers 5 tiers of service; 3 Microsoft® Exchange and 2 customizable branded email Commercial Messaging Service (CMS), a robust Web-based solution that also integrates with existing applications such as a CRM tool. USA.NET also offers more than 20 enhanced services like mobility, instant messaging, encryption, archiving, content filtering, and much more.

ADDITIONAL SERVICES TO BOOST PRODUCTIVITY

What else does the Exchange provider offer? Besides their plans, do they have additional services to keep up with changing technology? Will they be able to assist in your growing messaging needs?

USA.NET's proven, scalable infrastructure is designed to meet the needs of small, medium and enterprise level companies because we offer a full range of value-added services that give you more productivity. We offer content filtering, instant messaging, spam control, branded email, virus protection and archiving plus mobile access and integration with a huge field of portable devices.

ROBUST INFRASTRUCTURE & EMAIL SECURITY

Does the vendor use multiple layers of security? What level data center do they offer? Does their architecture help protect against both loss of data and downtime?

USA.NET has one the most secure data centers available — a tier 4 level. This means your data and your company are protected at many levels from electronic, physical, and human threats. Our center offers a clustered, fully redundant and High Availability (HA) infrastructure with SAN storage. We've eliminated single points of failure, for consistent uptime, (see below) plus we perform full nightly mailbox backups yielding faster data retrieval.

ROCK SOLID SLAs

How reliable is this vendor? Can they actually prove their uptime performance? How much system downtime has the vendor experienced during the past month? Six months? ln a year?

This is a critical measure of any provider: If they can't deliver reliable service, your company suffers. Yet many Exchange hosting providers boast of high SLAs — when the truth is somewhat different. At USA.NET, we can offer high SLAs and we can back them up. USA.NET consistently provides a 99.9% SLA to its users. We provide the formula for measuring performance to our customers and we report on our SLAs monthly. Don't settle for less.

MEASURING THE REAL COSTS

How can I tell if a vendor's pricing is really a deal? Am I saving money on the front end — only to lose it in the delivery?

There are bargain prices out there, but the caveat "You get what you pay for" certainly rings true here. Beware of low-priced offerings that can't offer the reliable delivery, security, and personal support that you need. USA.NET doesn't advertise prices, because we don't sell ready-made packages. Instead, we create individualized plans unique and appropriate for each customer. Our pricing is, however, competitive when you factor in our outstanding reliability, high touch customer support, expertise in every facet of messaging, and "take-it-to-the-bank" uptime.

WHAT ABOUT MIGRATION?

How does the proposed Exchange provider handle migrations? Do they have the experience, the training and the personnel to lead you through this process? Can they make it relatively painless?

USA.NET has dedicated migration teams with highly experienced and tenured workers who know exactly how to make the process quick, comfortable, and seamless. With a high level of communication, hands-on support, and proprietary automated tools, we make migrations painless, even for the technically challenged in your company. It's one of the best differentiators between USA.NET and most other Exchange providers; a high touch, professional migration.

WHO ARE THEIR CUSTOMERS?

Does the vendor have a strong, referenceable customer base and high level of customer satisfaction? What size and type of customers does the vendor support? Any similar to me?

It's always a good idea to check references. USA.NET has thousands of satisfied customers from large companies to small. We've designed and implemented hundreds of unique email service plans for every type of company imaginable. We're always pleased to have our customers speak for us, because we have one of the lowest churn rates in the industry. When companies choose us — they tend to stay with us.

REAL SERVICE OR LIP SERVICE

What customer support services are offered? Round the clock phone support? Dedicated account people? Expertise in migration?

This is the real litmus test, and critically important for the long term relationship with your Exchange hosting provider. USA.NET offers the finest, most thorough customer support of any in the industry. From our customer-centric philosophy, to our professional workforce, everything we do is for the benefit of our customers. We assign each customer a dedicated Technical Account Manager — a point person — who is the lead contact for your account. Beyond that we offer live, on-premises support 24x7x365 from experienced technical support personnel. Even your migration is headed by a Professional Services Engineer, who leads our highly experienced migration team, assuring a swift and seamless migration, with no lost data or productivity.

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