The mailbox stops.Your mail keeps moving.
Continuity stores every incoming message as it passes the gateway. When the mailbox system fails, whether Microsoft 365, Exchange or your own server, your team carries on through a separate web interface.
When it happens
Outages are planned for, just not at your company
Mailbox systems are highly available, but not uninterrupted. That holds for Microsoft 365 as much as for an on premises Exchange: for one it is an incident at the provider, for the other a hardware, power or ransomware event in your own building.
Minute 0
Acceptance stops
Sending servers no longer get an answer and start retrying.
After 15 minutes
The first call arrives
A customer asks whether the message got through. Nobody can say.
After an hour
Deadlines keep running
Quotations, questions and appointments stand still while the clock does not.
Afterwards
The rework begins
Whatever arrived in the meantime has to be found, sorted and answered.
The four stations
What actually happens during an outage.
From acceptance to delivery back, one station at a time.
Mail is accepted, not rejected
When your mailbox system stops responding, the gateway accepts the message anyway. Without this station mail sits with the sender and nobody knows what is in flight.
- No rejection towards sending servers
- Virus scanning and rules keep running unchanged
- Storage runs continuously, not only during an outage
Read in the browser, nothing to set up
Your team signs in to the Conbool interface and keeps reading. Nothing is installed on devices and there is no second mailbox to maintain.
- Browser access, including from outside
- No additional account in the mail system
- History from the archive on request
Reply from the usual address
Business partners see no difference. The sender address is checked against your registered addresses before anything leaves, foreign addresses are ruled out.
- Sent through the regular outbound path
- Sender address is verified, not accepted blindly
- Signature and encryption stay active
Everything flows into the mailbox afterwards
As soon as the target system accepts again, messages are delivered automatically. Without this station the outage messages are later missing from the mailbox and the archive.
- Starts on its own once acceptance resumes
- Order and timestamps are preserved
- The fallback copy is removed once the period ends
Capabilities
What makes the difference.
Six points that separate preparation from a statement of intent.
Alerting through another channel
Notification deliberately avoids the affected mailboxes.
History from the archive
With Conbool Archive, older correspondence is available too, not only mail since the outage began. That makes a case not just reachable during an outage but workable.
Automatic deletion after the period
The fallback copy is removed on its own once the configured period ends, logged and with no leftovers. A copy of other people's mail that lingers against your own promise is exactly what a data protection audit objects to.
Independent of the mailbox system
Whether Microsoft 365 or your own Exchange sits behind it makes no difference.
Readiness verifiable in advance
The interface shows who would really get in when it matters.
Operated in Germany or on your premises
The fallback store sits in German data centres or on your own installation, with contract and responsibility at a German provider.
Being prepared
What has to be in place before the outage
Two things cannot be arranged afterwards. Knowing them is the difference between having continuity and merely having bought it. The interface openly shows what is missing.
Everyone who needs access needs an account
The fallback view requires membership in the tenant. A company with eighty mailboxes and two administrator accounts would leave seventy eight people without access. Invitations go by mail to exactly the mailboxes that are down.
A second sign in path besides Microsoft
Anyone signing in only through Microsoft cannot get in when that service is down. A password or a second factor at Conbool solves it, but it has to be set beforehand.
Rehearse once, not during the incident
Access can be demonstrated at any time without touching your environment. After that everyone knows where to click during an outage.
The difference
The hour the mailbox system does not answer
Two companies, the same outage.
Without preparation
- Incoming mail sits with the sender and nobody knows what is in flight.
- Customers wait for a reply and do not get one.
- After the outage nobody knows what arrived in the meantime.
- The outage surfaces when the first customer complains.
With continuity
- Messages are accepted and readable straight away.
- Your team keeps replying, from the usual sender address.
- Everything flows into the mailbox automatically, nothing is left behind.
- The alert arrives through a channel that is not affected itself.
Where it fits
Three jobs that are often confused
Continuity, backup and archive solve different problems. Using one in place of another shows up at the worst possible moment.
Email continuity
Answers how work carries on while the service cannot be reached.
365 Backup
Answers how lost content comes back after deletion or encryption.
Archive
Answers what was sent and received and when, without gaps and unaltered.
Business continuity
Preparation that stands up to an audit
NIS2 explicitly names business continuity and crisis management in Article 21 paragraph 2 point c. The audit question is not whether outages occur, but what happens when they do.
- Access during an outage is documented and can be demonstrated at any time.
- No dependency on the failed service, the store sits separately.
- Operated in German data centres or on your own premises.
- Contract and responsibility rest with a German provider.
How to start
Prepared in three steps
The effort sits before the incident, not inside it.
The gateway is already there
If your mail already runs through Conbool, the technical requirement is met. Otherwise the MX record is switched.
Set up access
Everyone who needs access during an outage gets an account and a second sign in path besides Microsoft, in advance.
Rehearse once
We demonstrate acceptance, access, reply and delivery on a test environment, without touching your systems.
The second step decides the outcome. Skipping it means you have bought continuity but may have nobody who can actually get in.
Enterprise infrastructure and security
Certified protection, seamless integration, and full transparency.
Monitoring and audit logs
Integration and compatibility
Seamless integration into your existing system landscape.
Infrastructure, Performance & Deployment
Highly available architecture for maximum reliability.
Infrastructure and architecture
- ISO 27001 hostingGeo redundant servers in Germany (the EU and Berlin).
- Active active clusterFor maximum resilience and load distribution.
Performance and reliability
- SLA guarantee99.9% guaranteed system availability.
- High performance routingMinimal latency (< 50ms) for email processing.
Deployment & Multi-Tenancy
- ISO 27001 certified hostingHosting in ISO 27001 certified EU data centers (Germany)
- Flexible service packagesCustom service packages per tenant
Support and documentation
Benefit from a broad range of support services
24/7 ticketing
Guaranteed response times around the clock
Phone support
Personal contact through prioritized phone support
Documentation and FAQs
Comprehensive documentation, step by steps, and FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Does anyone have to switch something over?
No. The store is maintained continuously, whether or not an outage is under way. Your team simply signs in to the web interface.
Does it work with an on premises Exchange server?
Yes. Continuity sits at the gateway, not at the mailbox system. Whether Microsoft 365 or your own server sits behind it makes no difference.
Does continuity replace a backup?
No. It keeps you reachable during an outage. Lost content is recovered by 365 Backup, statutory retention is handled by Conbool Archive.
What happens once the mailbox system is back?
Regular operation continues as before. Messages received during the outage stay accessible and are delivered automatically.
Which plan includes continuity?
Continuity is included from the middle plan upwards.
Related pages
More on outages and business continuity.
NIS2 im Überblick
Richtlinie, Umsetzungsgesetz und BSIG: wer betroffen ist und was gilt.
Learn moreE-Mail-Notfallpostfach
Lesen und antworten, während das eigene Mailsystem steht.
Learn moreMicrosoft 365 Ausfall
Weiterarbeiten, wenn Exchange Online keine Nachrichten annimmt.
Learn moreE-Mail Continuity
Der Marktbegriff, und was eine Lösung dafür leisten muss.
Learn moreNIS-2 Betriebskontinuität
Aufrechterhaltung des Betriebs nach Artikel 21 für den Mailkanal.
Learn moreNIS-2 E-Mail-Sicherheit
Alle E-Mail-Anforderungen nach Paragraf 30 BSIG im Überblick.
Learn moreMicrosoft 365 E-Mail-Sicherheit
Warum der eingebaute Schutz von Microsoft 365 nicht ausreicht.
Learn moreThe next outage will not announce itself
We set continuity up with you and show you the access path before you need it.