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What is Microsoft Exchange?
In its simplest terms, Microsoft Exchange is POP3 mail on super
steroids. Differing from regular email, Exchange has a host of additional
features that make it a very powerful productivity tool. For me one of its
biggest advantages is the synchronization. All folders, contacts, tasks and
calendar items are saved on the server, not the client.
Email Syncronization
I always end up working on multiple computers at multiple
locations. Before I began working with Exchange every time I wanted to save a
copy of an email I sent I had to BCC myself so that it would be on my other
computers as well. Exchange does this for me. For example, when you send
an email from your Blackberry or other email enabled phone, it will also show up
in your PC`s sent items folder. The same is true if you send from another PC
with Outlook or even with the web based mail provided called Outlook Web Access
(OWA). When I set up a new computer and Outlook, Exchange synchronizes all the
folders to the new computer as well. No need to copy the PST files from one
computer to another (or those Outlook Express files that I can never find).
Sharing`s Public Folders & Sharepoint
Integrated with Exchange are its public folders. These are Outlook
type folders where you can share documents based on permissions. This is great
for company info and client data across a company. These can include files like
PDF`s, Word documents, regular emails, images, tasks, calendars and more. One
thing to note is that public folders are not visible through OWA in Exchange
2007, in this case you would need to use Outlook.
The best way to describe Sharepoint is a hybrid of public folders
and a Wiki. These are full web pages accesses though a web browser. You can add
files with a version history, lists such a s vacation days and more. Microsoft
also has more then 60 application templates available from Sharepoint v2 (v3.0
was just recently released). Some of these include campaign tracking, vacation
schedule and approval, Competitive Analysis, Request for Proposal, Timecard
Management and much more.
Drawbacks
With all these advantages, Exchange does have some drawbacks. If
you are setting up Exchange in-house there are 2 main issues to deal with. The
first is the licensing costs. Exchange 2007 starts at $700 and goes up from
there. In addition it can be a real beast to set up if you do not know what you
are doing. Now I am by no means and Exchange expert or system admin. I`m
just a power user. At my previous job we needed to get Exchange set up. It
took several weeks, 4 consultants and several thousand dollars in consulting
fees before it was up and running. Even then we had down times that sometimes
lasted a few days. No business can afford to let that happen when there is an
inexpensive alternative.
Exchange as a Hosted Service
While the initial versions of Exchange required you to set them up
in house, as of Exchange 2003 you can have your Exchange hosted remotely.
Exchange hosting companies manage the setup and maintenance of Exchange for you.
They even handle the licensing with Microsoft. As the number of mailboxes these
company handle are much greater then just your company, they can get much better
prices and deals from Microsoft for these fees. All you have to do is manage
your users/mailboxes and of course pay your bill to them, often ate rates of
around $10 per month per user. Compared to the $1000 it costs to set up and
maintain internally this is a steal.
Visit the HostSearch.com hosted Exhange forum brought to you by Alon
Cohen.
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