Cloud Move For Gordano Microsoft Exchange Alternative

Gordano is jumping onto the cloud bandwagon by launching GMS Cloud, a hosted version of its messaging platform.

GMS Cloud has all the features of the Gordano Messaging Suite (GMS), including antivirus and anti-spam capabilities, instant messaging, and other collaboration features, which can replace Microsoft Exchange for a “fraction of the cost”, said John Stanners, Gordano’s senior vice president.

Two Versions, Unlimited Storage

“E-mail is a mission-critical application for our customers, and they are looking for solutions that will help them ease the time and challenges in managing their messaging environments,” Stanners told eWEEK.

Gordano is pitting GMS Cloud against Microsoft’s Exchange Online by touting its mail and messaging capabilities. For emerging markets, GMS Cloud is priced “very competitively” and Gordano offers unlimited storage, which is a “big differentiator”, Stanners said.

Offered in two distinct versions, Standard Web mail GMS Cloud accounts start at £1.50 per month and Professional accounts with Outlook integration, not yet available in the UK, start at $7.50 per user per month in the US. A minimum of five users is required and volume discounts are also available. New accounts can be provisioned immediately via a Web-based administrative interface.

“GMS Cloud offers a low entry cost to the Gordano Messaging Suite and provides a flexible and accessible option to those looking for a secure hosted messaging platform, enabling them to focus on their core business,” said Stanners.

In addition to the hosted GMS Cloud service, Gordano also announced the general availability of GMS 17.1 and GMS Sync, a synchronisation service for mobile devices. GMS Sync provides push email and full data synchronisation from GMS to any smartphone or basic handset, said Stanners. Even users without data plans or smartphones can still access email, view calendars and scroll through contacts from their phone, he said.

Lisa Kirman, Gordano’s operations director, claimed one in five mobile phone subscribers use prepaid phones and that prepaid services are growing faster than traditional contract-based services. GMS Sync makes it possible for these users to “inexpensively and easily” access email via their phones, Kirman said.

Gordano previously did not offer archiving options on GMS but organisations are concerned about data and security when moving to the cloud, according to Stanners. For GMS 17.1 and GMS Cloud archiving, Gordano partnered with Jatheon to offer enterprise-level email archiving with policy management and e-discovery features. Instead of trying to figure out compliance requirements and data recovery strategies, Gordano chose to partner with Jatheon which had already developed the expertise, Stanners said.

GMS offers “very low” management on “modest” hardware, said Stanners, claiming many organisations on older versions of Exchange who cannot refresh their hardware to meet current requirements see GMS as an attractive alternative.

“It doesn’t matter what kind of platform – the user interface remains the same,” Stanners said.

Gordano positions GMS for the larger enterprise and the Softalk Collaboration Suite, acquired as part of Gordano’s Softalk takeover earlier this year, for the smaller end of the market with five to twenty users, Stanners said. GMS Cloud fits the space in between, offering organisations of all sizes an alternative to Exchange, Stanners claimed.