Microsoft has Exchange, IBM has Lotus Notes, and Mountain View-based search engine Google has Google Apps. In this lineup, Google Apps is the new kid on the block, the one that has the least amount of users. That is why lat autumn Google launched the Going Google campaign – to raise awareness amongst IT managers that get stuck in traffic on their daily drive to work that Google Apps is a viable alternative to Microsoft Exchange.

Google is now taking things one step further by making life easy for any customer that would like to leave Microsoft Exchange behind and switch to Google Apps. Google has recently rolled out a server-side tool aptly named Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange. The tool takes a company’s emails, calendar and contact info and relocates all this data to the cloud.

According to Product Manager Abhishek Bapna, switching to Google Apps by using the tool is easy, efficient, fast and painless. The easy part refers to the fact that it is a simple 4-step process. The efficient bit refers to the fact that users are given the option to select mail, calendar and contact data combination they want to move. It also refers to the fact that the move is done in phases. When Bapna said the process is fast, he meant that hundreds of users can migrate at the same time. And when he said it is painless he meant that during the migration, employees can keep using Microsoft Exchange.

If you would like to get Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange, grab it straight from Google here. It is available free of charge to Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers.

Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange works with Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Microsoft Exchange 2007. It works with on-premise as well as hosted Exchange.

Not sure if you would like to make the switch? Perhaps the resources available here will help you make up your mind.