For all the Microsoft Exchange experts!!!!

canaan

I work for a company(25-30 users) that is still using the IS provider POP server for their Email. There has been some suggestions that we should bring in our own Email server.

My question is what is benefit of having your own Email server(such Microsoft Exchange) other than reducing some traffic by eliminating the need for internal mail to go out.

Is there any other benefits? Will there any cost saving in the long term if we stop depending on our ISP for POP server?? How much workload will Microsoft Exchange(or any other email server) require.

I really appreciate any input.

Canaan

Webmaster

One important benifit is availability. Even if the internet connection fails, you'll be able to e-mail internally. According to Microsoft, pretty much all their product lower the TCO... in your situation it depends mostly on how much e-mail traffic is internal and how much is external. But MS Exchange server is expensive, especially since you need separate client access licenses (in addition to the Windows access licenses (per seat)).

I've been an MS Exchange consultant for a couple of years and I always recommended to install it on a dedicated server. And once you have it installed and configured correctly, the workload will be very minimal, especially with 25-30 users. Most work is usually spend on creating/modifying/deleting users/mailboxes and creating corporate wide distribution list. If there's only one system with a couple of dosen users, it is usually either the sys admin or even support/helpdesk who manages the system.

Another difference is, that you ave only mail now. Exchange server is a groupware system. Common examples are sharing calendars and publishing public folders. Users will start using Outlook/Exchange better, more, and more effectively. I.o.w. the benifit could be better colaboration.

Keep in mind that your users are now also able to access their e-mail from home. You can configure exchange for many client protocols, if you want to support remote users, use pop3, imap4 or outlook web access. A direct local connection uses neither of those. RPC instead, which gives a mentionable benifit that you don't have to poll the exchange server for new messages (send/receive).

Some other benifits:
- centralized administration
- centralized backup (mail is stored in the Information Store on the Exchange server by default, not in the client pst unless you configure it to do so.)
- centralized anti-virus scanning. If you install a virus scanner that can scan directly in the Information Store (MS Exchange database that stores mail and such) AND install an AV from a different vendor on the client machines, you'll be pretty good protected.

I hope this helps at least somewhat.

Disclaimer: I worked only with 5.5 and now little about exchange server 2000, 2003. Shouldn't make a difference for the above though.

canaan

Thank you very much for your valuable reply. I really appreciate it. I just have 2 things that still need to be clarified:
1- You suggested that we need exchange licenses plus windows licenses?? Please clarify.. We already have a win 2000 server. Does it help??

2 - Bakcup- Do you need a third party software for backup, or Exchange has its built-in backup utility.. This could be an extra cost on top of the server.

Thank you in advance.

Webmaster

1. Yes.
In total you should have:
- Licenses for the Windows client OSs
- License for the Windows server OSs
- Client Access Licenses for the clients to access Windows Server
- Client Access Licenses for the clients to access Exchange Server (which includes an MS Outlook license, not express) There are some exceptions though, ie. when you run a dedicated Exchange server, you may not need the CALs for Windows Server (if I remember correctly, it depends on which services are used, I suggest searching at www.microsoft.com for the details per Exchange version.)

2. No, you can use the Windows 2000 backup utility to backup the Exchange server information as a part of the entire backup or separately.