Rackspace Hybrid to Office 365 Migration

Are you stuck in the Rackspace hybrid email hosting plan and feeling overwhelmed by the cost? If you’re looking for a more cost-effective solution, Microsoft’s Office 365 Exchange Online could be just what you need. Before moving on to the benefits of Exchange Online let’s understand why companies go for hybrid solutions.

Using a Hybrid solution was initially a cost-saving measure for many people, as they simply did not want to pay the high prices for accounts of all their employees. However, Microsoft 365 now offers a low-cost subscription option that makes it easy and affordable to provide Exchange mailboxes to all employees.

The traditional Rackspace hybrid email hosting plan charges around $11 per user per month for hosted exchange and between $3 to $5 for IMAP email hosting. This can add up quickly, especially for larger teams.

Microsoft’s Exchange Online, on the other hand, offers low-cost email hosting plans starting at just $2 per mailbox for a 2 GB mailbox plan, $4 per mailbox for a 50 GB mailbox plan, and $8 per mailbox for a 100 GB plan. This gives you the flexibility to have some users on a lower plan, and some on a higher one. And with Apps4Rent, a Microsoft CSP, you get 24/7 support for your end-users and admins.

When you compare the total cost of email hosting with Office 365, you’ll find that it’s always going to be less than what Rackspace is charging on their hybrid setup. Plus, with Office 365, you’ll get the added benefit of opening and editing Office documents and spreadsheets Online. Here are the features you get with Exchange Online.

• Exchange Online provides a cloud-based email solution with a secure, robust and reliable messaging system.
• It provides users with a centralized mailbox, mobile access, and archiving capabilities.
• Exchange Online includes anti-spam and anti-malware protection to keep your inbox secure.
• Users get flexible storage options, with unlimited storage for mailboxes, as well as options for archiving and retention policies.
• It has enhanced security features, such as multi-factor authentication, encryption, and auditing capabilities.
• Exchange Online supports integration with other services, such as Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, SharePoint, and Yammer.
• It provides integration with Office 365 applications, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as other third-party applications.
• Ability to add or remove additional services with just a single click.

Since all the features are coming at a very cheap cost, here is feature-wise comparisons for better understanding.

Features	Rackspace Email	Rackspace Email Plus	Exchange Online Plan 1
Price	$2.99	$3.99	$4.00
Free & Easy Migrations	Yes	Yes	Yes
Works with Outlook & Mobile	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mailbox Size	25GB	25GB	50GB
Max Attachment Limit	50MB	50MB	150MB
Unlimited Email Aliases	Yes	Yes	Yes
Webmail	Yes	Yes	Yes
POP/IMAP	Yes	Yes	Yes
Anti-Malware Protection	Yes	Yes	Yes
Anti-Spam/Phishing Protection	No	Yes	Yes
Mobile Sync (ActiveSync)	No	Yes	Yes
Shared Calendaring/Contacts	Yes	Yes	Yes
Sync Calendaring/Contacts	No	Yes	Yes
Online Email Archiving	No	No	Yes
Message Trace	No	No	Yes
Focused Inbox	No	No	Yes
Outlook Support	No	No	Yes
Conditional Mail Routing	No	No	Yes
Delegate Mailbox Access	No	No	Yes
Shared Mailbox	No	No	Yes
Hybrid Email Routing with Any Provider	Limited to Rackspace	Limited to Rackspace	Yes
Out-of-Office Replies	No	No	Yes
Auditing Reports	No	No	Yes

The Exchange Online plan is quite compelling, isn’t it? Next comes migration. Worry not. Apps4Rent’s certified migration experts will take care of all kinds of migration. Even if you don’t have archive/ PSTs or backup now, you can come back later, and we will import all the old data into your new mailbox for you. The best thing about migration is that you won’t even realize that the emails are being migrated and you can continue using emails without any issues.

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, Apps4Rent can provide ideal Exchange Online/ Office 365 plans that suits your requirements along with Rackspace to Office 365 migration assistance. And in case you are used to a POP3 mailbox, Exchange Online plan can also be set up as a POP3 mailbox. For further details on that get in touch with our expert team which is available 24/7 via email, chat, and phone.