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Server datacenter (data) security? Also Google Apps security

Maverick2002

Diamond Member
Couldn't find the best forum to post this so decided to post here. I'm working at a startup and prior to me coming they are running a Windows Server VPS at a local datacenter with MS Exchange server.

I've hosted my sites with Servint.net for almost a decade now and couldn't be happier, so I am pitching a switch to Servint as well as a *nix OS which would give me Cpanel/WHM access. It's also a LOT cheaper. We're paying something like $250/month and with our needs we could get it for $50/month.

This would also mean transitioning out of Outlook. I don't think that will be a problem as I can show them how Google Apps/Gmail will be a lot easier to use and with less problems, but I'm not 100% up to speed on security.

The only concern that will come up is security. How secure is this setup going to be (CentOs/G Apps/national datacenter vs. Windows Server/Exchange/local datacenter)? It's a huge concern as we have proprietary technical data on our product that we don't want getting out and I just need to get caught up so I can present this correctly and show them how this is going to benefit us and save us a lot of time, money, and headache.

TIA
 
You're a new(?) hire, and your first order of business is to take their working(?) Exchange & Outlook messaging platform, and move it to gmail in order to presumably save $200/month? You don't host your own gmail at a cpanel web host, so I don't really get how you came up with this $50/month. Google charges per user for their business accounts, so depending on the number of users you might not be saving anything.

Assuming the company has purchased Windows, Exchange, the Exchange CAL's, and any other software/appliances/services revolving around email, you'd basically be throwing that money in trash to move to gmail. That is, unless this is a hosted Exchange platform, but it doesn't like that's the case as you mentioned VPS.

No matter how many times I read your post, I can't figure out how your web host comes into play if you're talking about moving to Google Apps.
 
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Company didn't purchase Windows or Exchange or CALs, we are renting. Google Apps is free for the first 10 users, we have 5 right now. As we move past the 10 mark, I can't imagine CALs being cheaper than $5/mo/user that Google Apps offers.

The $50 is for web hosting and using Google Apps as the mail client.

The web host comes into play because we're renting a server at a local datacenter which (just for the hosting alone) is almost $200/month, major overkill for the storage/bandwidth we need.
 
There are a lot of positives and negatives to each VPS and Dedicated server hosting, you have to weigh them carefully. It really depends on the direction of your company, and how they view their data.
 
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