Google Announces New 24X0 Support Service for Business Users

This press release was sent to Nicholas Carr but somehow found its way to me.

New Google Service Offers 24x0 Support for Business Users

Intermedia.NET, US Leader in Microsoft Exchange Hosting, praises Google for innovative new business service

New York, August 28, 2006 – 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, scanning of company email and documents, and no wireless access, 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.

Intermedia.NET, which offers 24x7 telephone and email support, concedes that there is an upside to Google’s 24x0 solution, in that it allows a company’s staff to take a much-needed break from work while waiting for a response to their technical problem. However, the company believes that continuous telephone support is still preferred by most businesses.

“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.”

Microsoft Exchange is by far the world’s leading email and collaboration solution, providing anywhere-anytime-any device access to email, calendars and contacts for 60% of larger companies worldwide, a figure that is constantly growing. Google’s new solution aims to address a similar market, but with an ad-supported model.

“Providing the ability to browse online casinos and herbal remedies while finishing off a quarterly report shows a true understanding of business needs,” said Rurik Bradbury, VP Marketing for Intermedia.NET.  “We applaud Google for keeping constant tabs on the subject matter of a company’s emails and documents in an effort to provide truly targeted advertising.”

To learn more about Intermedia.NET’s enterprise-class Microsoft Exchange hosting services, which start at $9.95 per user per month, including 24x7 technical support, wireless access, world-class security and data privacy, plus guaranteed 99.9% uptime, please visit www.intermedia.net or call 1-800-379-7729.

Thanks to Lisa Coleman, Marketing Director at Intermedia.net for sending me this "tongue-in-cheek" press release. Everyone needs a laugh...at least once a day.

Nicholas Carr said today "there is no love lost between Google and Microsoft".  I don't know where he gets that idea :-)  Actually, Dave Girouard, GM for Google Enterprise Applications is a good friend. We worked together for several years when I was at AltaVista and Dave was at Virage. I have a lot of respect for all the people at Google, and many of them are personal friends. We just like to have fun while we are competing.