Infrastructure. Since you want to own your own server you need to be able to provide appropriate maintenance for it. It must never get too warm and be cut off from electricity. You will need a powerful UPS to keep the server running when the power goes out.
Backup. You will certainly need reliable backup software to make sure your company’s critical data is intact at all times. This entails the necessity to work out a backup and disaster recovery plan which should include a prerequisite of you keeping a copy of all your backed-up data in a location away from the server.
Availability. If you’re your own hosted exchange service provider, you will have to make sure your email server is reachable at all times. Email has become mission critical in most organisations, so having it unavailable may result in big problems for the company. Thus, you will have to ensure reliable Internet connection as well as redundancy of soft-and hardware resources to achieve fail-safe operation. Should any of the server’s components break down, the email has to remain functional.
Anti-virus and spam control. Even if your server runs in a non-Windows environment, you will have to find a reliable corporate anti-virus solution to prevent viruses from infecting your users or their recipients.
Portable Device Support. This option is considered to be highly useful in today’s fast-paced lifestyle because it enables you to access your emails, calendars, documents via your iPhone, Blackberry or other portable device.
However, if you think you cannot take care of all of the above issues, there is always a hosted exchange option for you. In fact, for many companies with no expertise in the subject, it’s best to outsource this function and focus on strategic business planning, instead of complicated IT solutions. Some web hosts may offer discounts on hosted exchange when it’s complementing your cloud hosting solution.