Microsoft rolls out 50GB mailboxes for Exchange Online, Office 365

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After tripling file storage capacity on SkyDrive Pro this week, Microsoft has announced it's doubling the capacity of its cloud mailboxes elsewhere.

Inboxes for everyone using Exchange Online and Office 365 will be doubling from the current capacity of 25GB to 50GB over the next few months.

The new 50GB per user capacity is being gradually rolled out across the world from today through to November, and according to Microsoft, there will be no extra charge for the additional capacity.

Customers on Exchange Online Plan 1, Office 365 Small Business, Midsize Business, Enterprise E1, Government G1, and Education A1 should begin to see their maibox increase to 50GB.

Meanwhile, customers on premium plans will see their default primary mailbox increase to 50GB, although they already had unlimited email storage in their personal archives. Premium plans include Exchange Online Plan 2, Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E4, Government G3 and G4, Education A3 and A4.

Shared mailboxes are also expanding to 10GB, up from the previous 5GB, while Office 365 Kiosk mailboxes are increasing from 1GB to 2GB.

Earlier this week, Microsoft also bumped up file storage for Office 365 and SharePoint customers, raising the previous 7GB afforded through SkyDrive Pro to 25GB.

Microsoft's new storage limits put it some way ahead of Google Apps, which from May, offered customers a unified 30GB capacity across Drive and Gmail.