Growth Driven by Entrepreneurial Spirit Among “Corporate Refugees,” High Demand for Blackberry, iPhone and Windows Mobile Synchronization
2009-07-08
Intermedia today announced that it hosts over 200,000 premium Microsoft Exchange mailboxes, a sign of growing optimism among the company's customer base of 11,000 small and medium-sized businesses. The 200,000+ total puts Intermedia ahead of any other Exchange hosting provider. Intermedia hosts more than 400,000 mailboxes overall. The premium mailboxes use Microsoft's full MAPI license, which includes a downloadable copy of Microsoft Outlook, the power to share calendars, and other features essential to business users.
Intermedia's recent performance parallels trends in the small and medium-sized business climate:
- In Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, Intermedia saw slower mailbox growth in its existing customer base. Higher than average numbers of accounts pared back the number of mailboxes they use - a reflection of staffing cuts enacted in response to the economy. This phenomenon tapered off in Q2 2009, signaling that many small and medium-sized businesses are stabilizing operations.
- An offering aimed at "corporate refugees" - business people who left or were laid off from large enterprises - experienced 240 percent monthly account growth in Q2 2009. Intermedia attributes the spike to growing entrepreneurial spirit among displaced workers. The offering combines a hosted Exchange email account with synchronization to a Blackberry, iPhone or Windows Mobile smartphone.
- Intermedia's revenue and mailbox count continued to grow in Q1 2009, but the pace slowed to a level similar to that seen following the dot-com bust. In Q2 2009, the growth rate for new accounts more than doubled from the prior quarter. Q2 2009 "revenue per mailbox" also grew as existing customers provided Intermedia's Blackberry, iPhone and Windows Mobile smartphone synchronization to additional employees
"It's still too early to tell whether the economy is getting back on track," says Serguei Sofinski, Intermedia's chief executive officer. "Intermedia's growth indicates that small and medium-sized businesses aren't standing by, waiting for the economy to turn around or the stimulus to kick in. Our customers are optimistic about what the future holds - they are taking concrete steps to improve their business."
A profitable 14-year old company, Intermedia has grown organically and without debt. The company attributes its consistent quarterly gains in part to its Exchange Concierge™ service that manages customers' transition to Intermedia from other hosting providers or an in-house server. Typically in less than an hour, customers are set up without disruption to email or other files.
"We are passionate about providing small and medium-sized businesses with the same communications and collaboration experience a Fortune 500 company can provide its employees," adds Sofinski. "But we need to deliver our services in a way that is simple to set up, use and manage. That's the bar we set for ourselves and how we can best help our customers put technology to work."
Intermedia will be exhibiting at the upcoming Microsoft World Partner Conference (WPC), July 13-16, 2009 in New Orleans at booth #205.