A system and method for providing email using a flexible routing technique based on MX records. The method includes the steps of creating an MX record for a user, the MX record identifying a storage location for the user within the system; and routing mail within the enterprise email system using the information contained in the MX record. A system may include an inbound mail transfer agent coupled to an external network and an internal network; user email data storage having an address within the internal network; a user location database server containing a unique user token identifying a storage location for user email data in the user email data storage; and an internal DNS server including MX records for storage domains on the internal network.