Evidently keen to take on the likes of Google and Microsoft in the fight for corporate customers, Amazon on Thursday announced WorkMail, a cloud-based email and calendar service for businesses.
The Seattle-based firm says its new service – from Amazon Web Services, its cloud computing operation – offers a more cost effective and more secure cloud solution compared to current tools offered by the aforementioned big hitters, and also offers an alternative to on-premises hosting with less complex licensing and no need for expensive hardware.
While users will be able to continue firing off emails and perform other similar tasks using software such as Microsoft Outlook, back-end Amazon technology will take care of managing the way email is sent, received, and stored.
According to the company, customers will be able to “integrate Amazon WorkMail with their existing corporate directory, choose encryption keys, select the location where they want their data to reside, and pay only for the mailboxes they create.”
Not surprisingly, Amazon is integrating WorkMail with WorkDocs, its document-management service that until recently was known as Zocalo.
The company appears to be pushing its latest offering on the basis of cost savings, security and privacy controls, and ease of use, so businesses unhappy with their current setup may soon come knocking at its door.
The new service is set to launch in the spring at a cost of $4 per user per month for a 50GB mailbox, or $6 if you combine it with WorkDocs.
[Source: Amazon]
