Overview:
The Message Center is a company that provides Microsoft Exchange Hosting to companies. They are solely a hosting company and provide not only Exchange, but SharePoint and BlackBerry Enterprise Service as well.
Pros: You have a choice of a full mailbox plan, a web plan, or a P0P3 plan. Features for the full mailbox plan include no cancellation or set-up fee, Outlook Web Access, IMAP and P0P3, Outlook Mobile Access, ActiveSync, free Outlook 2007, unlimited contacts, aliases, domain aliases, distribution lists, contacts, and more. You also get free SharePoint and free Postini anti-virus and anti-spam filtering with every plan. Extra storage costs are amazingly low - $3.95 per 100 MB. The Message Center is one of the only companies to offer a POP3 plan, meaning that you can choose the features you want for the price that you want. The Message Center is also the only company to allow a web-based mail provisioning control panel for both BlackBerry and Goodlink users. You can add or subtract as many mailboxes or users as you want to. Other companies have options like this, but the company is the only one that includes both BlackBerry and Goodlink in this option.
Cons: There really aren't many - with the exception of having to pay for support on the POP3 plan, but considering what you do get, this isn't much of a disadvantage.
Detailed Provider Information:
Version of BES: (Microsoft, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell Group Wise) The Message Center uses Microsoft Exchange 2003.
Plans and Pricing: The Message Center offers you three different plans – a full mailbox plan, a web plan, and a P0P3 plan.
The full mailbox plan is $9.95 a month without any set-up fees. You get 500 MB of storage, a 90 day money-back guarantee, and all the features of an “executive” mailbox, including Goodlink and BlackBerry Access. Full mailbox plan members also get free SharePoint and automated set-up for both BlackBerry and Good Messaging devices.
The web plan is $4.95 a month and includes 300 MB of storage. However, you don’t get as many features with this plan. What it does include is pretty much everything that the full mailbox plan includes, but you don’t get SharePoint, BlackBerry or Goodlink service. For the price, though, you actually get quite a lot.
The P0P3 plan costs $1.95 and includes 50 MB of storage. Compared to the other plans, you get basically nothing with this one, but it does include the basics. You get unlimited aliases, domain aliases, distribution lists and contacts, as well as the control panel and anti-virus and spam protection. To be fair, though, the price is right if you’re looking for something simple.
For the full and web plans, you can get BlackBerry service for $8.95 a month, with no set-up fees. The Message Center also includes GoodLink service, for $9.95 a month, also with no activation fees.
Firewall Protection: The Message Center provides 24/7 network monitoring and with the full and web plans, you get a 128 SSL certificate that will encrypt messages going out.
Anti-Spam and Virus Protection: All plans include Postini anti-virus and anti-spam protection as part of the service, for no extra charge.
Set-up Fee: None, not even for BlackBerry and GoodLink service.
Other Devices Supported: BlackBerry, Treo, and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.
Customer Service: 24/7 support is provided at no extra cost for users of the web and full mailbox plans. However, the P0P3 plan does not provide this service for free, and the support that you do get is limited. They do have a support tab on their webpage and a number you can call for emergencies.
Backup History Storage: Regular backups are performed to make sure your data remains safe, but not if you have the P0P3 plan.
Uptime Guarantee: 99.999%, according to their website and SLA.
Additional Services: The Message Center, like its name, focuses solely on messaging and email solutions for their customers. However, you can get email archiving if you have the full or web plans, secure messaging, and SharePoint plans.
Fee for Changing BlackBerry for Current Customers: No charge for this service.
