Rackspace today announced that it has launched its Hosted Exchange service, this will help out businesses looking to outsource their email service.  Services like this should enable smaller companies to have access to the same connectivity features as large fortune 500 companies.

The new service is based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.  Jacques Greyling, Rackspace operations director, said: “email is a mission critical tool for virtually every organization today and we are seeing an increasing trend to outsource this service. Companies find that email is a technically demanding service to run, but at the same time they know if they outsource it, their partner must be reliable and offer a robust service. At Rackspace we provide a high level of technical service and support to meet the needs of businesses enabling them to concentrate on their core activities.

“We apply our expertise in support and infrastructure so customers get all of the features and benefits they require without any of the day-to-day headaches of having to manage their own service,” added Greyling.

Rackspace Managed Mail provides a turn-key, business class email service with the benefits of a robust shared infrastructure and a dedicated support team of experts on call 24×7x365. It also offers anywhere access including seamless integration with wireless devices and collaboration through shared calendars, contacts and tasks, and a pay per mailbox pricing structure.

Rackspace has previously offered mail service through Managed Exchange 2003. The 2007 service provides a number of improvements including a doubling of the mailbox to 2GB and a doubling of attachments from 25MB to 50MB.

The Microsoft Exchange solution is aimed at businesses which are looking for a “corporate” service. Rackspace also offers Noteworthy hosted email, a basic service for organisations which may be currently using a basic mail solution.