Microsoft Online Services was officially released this week and so we move a step closer to a world where more customers host their mailboxes in the cloud.  OK so it’s for US customers only at the moment but I think it’s still worth keeping up to date with developments.  First place to start is probably the msonline blog.  There’s obviously also material on Technet. (here)

For Exchange it looks as if there are two main offerings – standard and dedicated – the main difference being that the latter offering provides dedicated servers, networks, and physical space in Microsoft data centres, providing a different layer of logical and physical security.

Some of the highlights - it’s possible to have a mailbox of up to 5GB, you can migrate your existing data up into the cloud, you can sync your Blackberry device and you get single sign-on.  The future is here – nearly…

Microsoft Stakes Its Place In The Cloud
TechNet Webcast: Migration and Coexistence for the Business Productivity Online Suite from Microsoft Online Services (Level 300)
Microsoft Solves the Google Problem

"In five years, 50 percent of our Exchange mailboxes will be Exchange Online," Chris Capossela