Any email software for Windows other than Exchange?

[hswihart10]

We have about 700 users on our email server. My boss just won't buy Exchange because he thinks it is too expensive. Is there any other email app that will run on a Windows server? If so can it handle 700 (plus) users?

Heather

 

[terry712]

novell's netmail

cut down groupwise - runs on any os - fair supperior to exchange as well

 

[hswihart10]

Does netmail run on a windows server? It has to be windows.

Heather

 

[skialta]

Lotus Notes is another. Just the usual Pro-Microsoft pitch...In the scheme of things if you want mail to run on a Windows box, the best way to do it is Exchange. Beside, Exchange is not that expensive in the scheme of things...otherwise opensource may be a better fit, but that's not a real option for a Windows box. I just read an article about Backcountry.com that their corporate direction is opensource all the way. The thing to keep in mind is that they now require a fulltime staff to maintain this stuff. Employee benefits are a lot more expensive than software licenses. Also, keep in mind that you can host all 700 users on 1 Exchange 2003 box, of course you won't have any redundancy, but you can do it with no sweat.

 

[58sniper]

Lotus Notes
Novell GroupWise

both run on Windows Server, and they are Exchange's biggest competitors. Both are more expensive on a per-seat basis, and both have less deployed seats worldwide. The result is more support for Exchange, lower TCO, native support for some advanced features with Outlook, free Outlook 2003 CALs, etc.

Pat Richard, MCSE(2) MCSA:Messaging, CNA(2)

 

[chvchk]

We use Mercury Mail Server on our Win2K server. It's not as user friendly to set up but it's free and I haven't had any problems with it. We only have about 50 e-mail accounts but I don't think there are any limitations for how many accounts you can have.

http://email.about.com/cs/winserverreviews/gr/mercury32.htm

 

[hswihart10]

We are using Mercury now and we cannot get the spam filtering to work for Outlook Express clients. Someone said there was a workaround but I could never find it. My boss thinks we should just get a Linux based product but no one here is proficient at Linux and they don't want to have a mail server that they don't understand.

 

[itaviator]

Ipswitch's Imail or Collaboration Suite.



Systems Administrator

 

[iolair]

Notes/Domino is a bear to set up, but once it's done, it's great. It's much more than just email, though. Mercury is good, and of course, Groupwise is excellent - and yes, it does run on Windows as well as Netware. I know of several shops here who transferred their Groupwise on Netware to Groupwise on Windows and none of their users ever noticed. But again, Groupwise, like Notes, is much more than just email. There are lots of good open source email packages out there, but Sendmail is the one most often used. Unix (and Linux) do require a little learning, but it's worth it.

Good luck.

Iolair MacWalter
Director of IT

 

[terry712]

it also depends on skill levels and where you head is

if you are soaked in ms and think bill can do no wrong then to be truthful exchange is your best bet - as it may be less expensive in terms of supporting it and fitting in with systems -

most others are probably cheaper - again pending on how you purchase - and depends on how you work out costs -

how has most seats - well that is totally debateable and depends on where you read it

looking to future if you are a more hetrogenous person and like the open source ideas then go the groupwise , netmail send mail etc

can see about notes - never used it

 

[BenChristian]

700 users is quite a lot, so you will want to take disaster recovery into consideration. When you look at the open-source products, make sure that there they have comprehensive DR options. Exchange 2003 offers some excellent recovery options, as well as clustering and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat.

http://www.benchristian.com

 

[hswihart10]

Thank you so much for all of your advice. I am researching various products right now.