| Executive Summary: Microsoft Exchange Server is one of the most successful Microsoft product families, but it has evolved into a complicated product that can be overkill for many small businesses. Its cost can also be a concern. If you don’t need or want Exchange and you don’t want to put your communications infrastructure on someone else's mail server, several options are available, including PostPath Server and Kerio Mail Server (KMS). |
Along with Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint
Server, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Microsoft
Exchange Server is clearly one of the most successful
Microsoft product families in recent memory. The
Redmond juggernaut has swatted aside its competitors
in the enterprise messaging market, effectively
planting a Microsoft flag on a smoldering pile of cracked Lotus
Domino and Novell GroupWise installation CDs. According to Mark
Levitt, VP of collaboration and enterprise 2.0 strategies at market
research firm IDC, Microsoft Exchange/Outlook grabbed 52 percent
of the worldwide integrated collaborative environment license and
maintenance revenue in 2007. The next biggest player was IBM
Lotus Domino/Notes with a 38 percent share. Exchange is on a roll,
and big enterprises seem keen to jump aboard.
But it’s also true that Exchange has evolved into a complicated
product that can be overkill for many small businesses. It’s no secret
that Microsoft frequently looks to its largest customers in the Fortune
1000 for the lion’s share of input on new product releases—a
product-development methodology that has made Exchange a
powerful resource in companies that have more than 500 employees
but an arguably extravagant investment (in time and resources)
for smaller businesses. In a small company, Exchange can be the
equivalent of building a Patriot missile battery to kill a few fruit
flies. Microsoft is coming under increasing pressure on the low end
of the market from web-based email and groupware alternatives
(e.g., Gmail, GMX, Yahoo! mail) and has sought to fight back with
low-cost hosted Exchange services of its own. Microsoft also offers
Small Business Server (SBS) and Essential Business Server (EBS),
small business products that bundle Exchange with other Microsoft
business applications.
But what if you’re an IT pro who doesn’t need or want Exchange,
and you don’t want to put your communications infrastructure
on someone else’s mail server? A number of options are available,
including PostPath Server and Kerio Mail Sever (KMS). Cisco recently
announced that it would acquire PostPath, a Boston-based developer
that makes the eponymous PostPath Server, a Linux-based, drop-in
Exchange replacement. The move gives Cisco a viable competitor
to Exchange in the enterprise but also helps Cisco bolster its cloud
computing–based Software as a Service (SaaS) strategy.
“[Cisco knows] that bold steps are needed to shake the lock-in
that Microsoft, IBM, and other email vendors have on enterprises,”
said Levitt. “Cisco is leading with the innovation that is possible with SaaS and the broader, higherscale
cloud-computing model,
for which a comprehensive strategy
is currently being formulated
at Cisco to enable it to become a
broad business and IT solutions
provider in the cloud.”
An attractive Exchange alternative
for smaller businesses is
KMS, a product positioned at the lower end of the messaging market.
“Some installations [of KMS] are as small as five users,” said Dusan
Vitek, vice president of worldwide marketing for Kerio. “Many of our
customers believe that email is too critical to be outsourced … and
that the inability to access email when not connected to the Internet
is a big negative for them.” Vitek mentioned that most of Kerio’s customers
fall into the 10-500 seat range. According to Vitek, switching
to KMS also can save IT professionals money over a comparable
Exchange installation: Kerio’s 50-user minimum licensing cost is
only $1,299, whereas a comparable Exchange 2007 installation
weighs in at $5,418.
KMS runs on Windows Vista/2003/XP/2000, Red Hat Linux,
Fedora, SUSE, and Mac OS X. It also works with Outlook (via an
Outlook Connector) and supports mobile devices such as Windows
Mobile smart phones, Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry devices,
and Apple iPhones. An Exchange-to-KMS migration tool is also
available.
Akis Fotakelis, a systems administrator and Windows IT Pro
contributor, has used KMS and praised its low cost, ease of use,
and ability to integrate with Active Directory (AD). Fotakelis said
that KMS was also considerably less expensive than other SMB
email solutions he considered—a point that was a big factor in his
purchase decision. “The price was a real bargain,” Fotakelis said.
“Not only could I install it on a workstation, saving the license for a
Windows server, but I saved money from buying separate programs
for antispam, antivirus, backup, archiving, monitoring, and mailinglist
management.”
End of Article
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