Ceryx rolls out new hosted Exchange service 7 November, 2006 By Chris Talbot

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ThinOffice is a white-label version of Ceryx's hosted Exchange platform that offers a suite of Exchange services that allows the company's channel partners to brand, host and offer the service to their customers.

"It's a fully brandable hosted Exchange offering, and by brandable, what I mean is a white-label offering. We're looking for strong services partners who really understand how to service customers," said Gus Harsfai, president of Ceryx.

While potential partners don't have to be experts in messaging, Harsfai stressed the importance of customer service.

With ThinOffice, partners have the ability to offer their own branded service that is managed by Ceryx as a hosted Exchange service. The look and branding can be customized by the partner, but it was also designed so partners could easily manage customers' environments with it, Harsfai said.

Two versions exist -- a software-based version and a Web-based version. With the software version, partners will need to roll out software on the customer's site, but the management is still done by the partners. The Web- based version doesn't require any software or hardware to be rolled out at the customer's site, and it makes it entirely manageable through a Web interface.

"We provide all the infrastructure to host the back-end for them," Harsfai said.

Ceryx managed the service with its staff of experts around the clock -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week, he added.

"The best way to think about it is if you have an Exchange server sitting on your floor, but you don't," Harsfai said.

In the development of ThinOffice, Ceryx worked closely with Microsoft Canada. Microsoft is also helping Ceryx to develop its channel partner base, which is being supported through the ThinOffice Partner Support Program, Harsfai added. The program offers second-level support, sales and support training, integrated billing, lead generation programs, marketing collateral and the ThinOffice Customer Centre Web application (Ceryx's proprietary administration tool).

"A lot of the hosted Exchange solutions in the marketplace today are very similar to one another. ThinOffice brings to the table the experience Ceryx has had over the years," Harsfai said.