Microsoft Exchange Alternatives

[mariusvs]

Hi Guys

We are currently using Google Apps for our business e-mail. We have reached the 50 user limit
and we are currently looking at Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange is very expensive.

I am looking for an alternative ? Any suggestions help would be appreciated.

Tx

 

[Tiens van Zyl]

It all depends on what your budget is and what types of features you cannot live without.

Do you want to go cloud or have the system in house?

 

[mariusvs]

It all depends on what your budget is and what types of features you cannot live without.

Do you want to go cloud or have the system in house?

We don't really have a budget and we want to minimize the cost.

We basically just want e-mail,contacts and calendar. Cloud/Inhouse doesn't really matter.

 

[bekdik]

Look at the linux sendmail. maybe use webmin to administer.

Or maybe a hosted exchange site eg mweb.

 

[mariusvs]

Hosted exchange is also very expensive. I was thinking about a good IMAP mail server alternative

 

[macxsanity]

which features do you guys require besides basic email do you also require calender sharing ?

 

[Whyohwhy]

Have a look at http://www.zimbra.com/

 

[Tiens van Zyl]

Have a look at http://www.zimbra.com/

Zimbra should be more than sufficient I agree

 

[mariusvs]

which features do you guys require besides basic email do you also require calender sharing ?

Yes!We require calendar sharing aswell?

 

[mariusvs]

Does Zimbra work with Mac Mail,and outlook?

Also i see for it to work with outlook we need the pro version.

Any idea on how much it costs?

 

[|tera|]

Hi Guys

We are currently using Google Apps for our business e-mail. We have reached the 50 user limit
and we are currently looking at Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange is very expensive.

I am looking for an alternative ? Any suggestions help would be appreciated.

Tx

Why not stick with Google Apps and just upgrade to the business package? It's per user based.

 

[Polymathic]

Dare I say Blackberry

 

[Zarathustra]

Office 365:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/office365/compare-plans.aspx

 

[|tera|]

Office 365:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-za/office365/compare-plans.aspx

I forgot about that

 

[grim]

Hi Guys

We are currently using Google Apps for our business e-mail. We have reached the 50 user limit
and we are currently looking at Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange is very expensive.

I am looking for an alternative ? Any suggestions help would be appreciated.

Tx

Maybe get a MS SBS server?

How many users to you plan to add onto your system in the next 1-2 years?

 

[Tim the Techxpert]

Hi There,
It seems to me you have had a lot of options suggested to you.
Having the need to share calendars as well as mail does limit the options to a great extent.
If mail is your only issue then Mimecast is a good option. You have access to it from outlook as well as web interface.
Looking at Linux options is also a good idea but then you are going to have to manage it and that may not be what you want to have happen.
Office 365 is reasonably priced but is a little more expensive I believe than Google would be.

Given that you have a solution that works now but is constrained by the user limit I would go the Google route.

Regards Tim
Follow me on @TechXperTim

 

[OMB]

do all your users have Outlook installed?

 

[Fulcrum29]

Geez, you reminded me now. Have a look at Axygen, I own a ISP server license (that we never used to extend) but I see now that it is user based. Back in 2007 this kicked Exchange in the butt. We moved to Gmail in 2008.

I am now on Google Apps for Business, reason is for online collaboration and we also use a custom Windows Live Mail domain (this is similar to Gmail). There is also various Linux solutions, some already named. I prefer ClearOS which soon will have Zarafa included (you wil have to wait for this), I have a custom build mail solution into ClearOS that we use in a private WUG.

Furthermore is that I am checking out Axygen now, looks good. Wonder if my license is still applicable...

 

[TSpeed]

@mariusvs, Our server includes exchange server, sip server and internet information server. No fancy pc, microsoft cals, or sql required. Exchange includes smtp, pop3 and imap. handles unlimited users. can customize to handle more than 1 domain.

PM me

 

[Ipwn 4]

What do you mean by 50 users limit?

There are various hosted exchange options out there which give you the full exchange expirience without the need for a server. The costs are on par with google apps so thats not an issue.