request for opinion exch 2003 in small environment

[kaizer]

hello
my small company will be going to exch2003 in an AD environment - all from exch 5.5/NT4
i'm talking 30 computers
now, since AD is new to me - i've been reading up and doing test nt4-2003 upgrade of the pdc etc
from what i can tell, having the AD in place will not really do much more for us than what we already have in place in our simple environment
So my question is will having exch2003 (taking into account it's integration with AD) make available cool features that normal users would want to take advantage of?

 

[Marcs41]

'cool' features? Yes and no, all depends what you percieve as 'cool', so that is opinions.
But, that is is cool or not, if you want to go 2003, you will need AD anyway, so ...

Marc
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[kaizer]

maybe i used wrong choice of words
i don't mean cool
what i mean is that since there is a $ cost involved in going to 2003, it would be nice to say to the powers that be "look we'll be able to do xyz better/faster" or, we'll be able to have the ability to do things which were not possible before.
but in a simple environment, sending/receiving messages pretty much sums it up.
so since i am just getting started with this new software i'm hoping someone in a similar situation can enlighten me to the great things about it that's all

 

[Marcs41]

Well, if you are considering the move, it is a good move.
The next thing you shoud be worried about is cost.
Consider SBS 2003 for 'only' 30 users. It comes alot cheaper then Windows 2003 Server + Exchange 2003 Server + all the other extras.

For more details, see:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/evaluation/top.mspx

Marc
[sub]If 'something' 'somewhere' gives 'some' error, expect random guesses or no replies at all. Please specify details.
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[redcrosssun]

I upgraded to 2003 for one single reason, Outlook web access. OWA in 2003 is very fast, and very good looking. So if your company is using webmail, this is very recommendable. Another cool feature is the easy setup of RPC over HTTP, enabling users to connect outlook to your exchange server over the internet.

 

[Zelandakh]

Outlook Web Access when rolled out and shown to 30 users will give you so much kudos that you'll be happy for a year.

Exchange is a great product. Put it in right and pretty much forget about it.

30 users is ideal for SBS and the collaberation abilities will be appreciated.

Definite "go for it". SBS 2003 pretty much walks you through everything so if you are handy with NT4 Server you'll be fine.

<signature for rent>

 

[Chambers]

I agree, I upgraded from 2000 and must say that 2003 is wonderfull. Most of the powers above don't know anything technical so they go on what they see. Once they saw OWA and it's cool features they loved me. Plus the stability that came with it is awesome, love it!!

 

[devastator]

Like Starsky said....

"Do it, Do it, Do it".