EMC has introduced disaster recovery and networked storage technologies for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

The integrated set of technologies, unveiled Wednesday, uses the e-mail server's application programming interfaces, including Exchange's replication API. In using the latter, EMC has created a software utility that integrates synchronous replication into Exchange's architecture.

EMC's Replication Enabler utility supports the vendor's RecoverPoint Continuous Replication and EMC MirrorView Remote Synch replication. In addition, EMC launched what it calls a Replication Manager, which creates, mounts, and restores "application-consistent" point-in-time copies of databases residing on EMC storage arrays.

Finally, EMC's AutoStart technology for Exchange 2010 provides application infrastructure monitoring and automated restart for the Microsoft software and other environments on platforms, including EMC's flagship storage array Symmetrix and the company's storage-area network disk array, CLARiiON.

Along with the new technologies, EMC introduced consulting services to help customers migrate to or upgrade Exchange Server. In addition, EMC is offering services to help companies plan for and deploy Microsoft Unified Communications.

Microsoft released Exchange Server 2010 in November, claiming the software could cost as much as 70% less than previous versions in terms of total cost of ownership.

On-premise e-mail applications have been under pressure by online options. Google, for example, won a highly publicized bid to become the city of Los Angeles' e-mail provider at one third the price of Microsoft's bid. Some observers believe Gmail is more worthy of enterprise adoption than ever.

EMC is not the only vendor offering Exchange services. Dell last November introduced migration services for Exchange 2010 and two reference architectures for deploying the software on Dell severs and storage.