Comments on: VMware Channel Set to Attack Microsoft Exchange On Aug. 1 http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/ Channel News, Reseller News and Channel Partner Programs Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: John Collet http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/comment-page-1/#comment-131644 John Collet Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:28:05 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/?p=13140#comment-131644 Victor, Great points. Frankly, no matter what anyone says,if you have the resources, Exchange is still king. Nothing will best it anytime soon, others can come close. Bynari for example gives us about 90+ of its functionality for about 10% of the cost. So it's a good trade up in our case. SBS is great and is actually a great value for smaller size companies. Kerio, plays a lot in the market. We've looked at them and tested them. You can't put a 100 user on it, no way. You're right resources are getting cheaper but the turn off with Zimbra is that will all those limitations, their prices were pretty close to Exchange!!! Regards, Victor,
Great points. Frankly, no matter what anyone says,if you have the resources, Exchange is still king. Nothing will best it anytime soon, others can come close. Bynari for example gives us about 90+ of its functionality for about 10% of the cost. So it’s a good trade up in our case. SBS is great and is actually a great value for smaller size companies. Kerio, plays a lot in the market. We’ve looked at them and tested them. You can’t put a 100 user on it, no way. You’re right resources are getting cheaper but the turn off with Zimbra is that will all those limitations, their prices were pretty close to Exchange!!!
Regards,

]]> By: Victor http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/comment-page-1/#comment-131633 Victor Thu, 07 Jul 2011 22:07:38 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/?p=13140#comment-131633 John: That is very interesting. I think I had stumbled upon Bynari at some point but never tested it. I looked and saw that wow it has been almost one year since this post. My follow up: Tried Kerio for a test system to synchronize to phones. The Kerio system was pretty nice. Easy install and seemed to work very well. Problem was the Android phone we were testing at the same time was not on the approved phone list so would not synch. We also have a bunch of BlackBerrys and never got to test that functionality. SBS2011 which includes Exchange 2010 was eventually used. I take back any negativity in my comment about the increased complexity and options of Exchange. They actually have some very good options that I used to solve the complexity of the problem I was solving. Also, there spam filter seems to being catching things that the current system is not. Lastly, about heavy resources, look at where we were a year ago with hardware and where we are now. And what is on the horizon. The computing power just keeps increasing and getting cheaper. Interesting times, Victor John: That is very interesting. I think I had stumbled upon Bynari at some point but never tested it. I looked and saw that wow it has been almost one year since this post.

My follow up: Tried Kerio for a test system to synchronize to phones. The Kerio system was pretty nice. Easy install and seemed to work very well. Problem was the Android phone we were testing at the same time was not on the approved phone list so would not synch. We also have a bunch of BlackBerrys and never got to test that functionality.

SBS2011 which includes Exchange 2010 was eventually used. I take back any negativity in my comment about the increased complexity and options of Exchange. They actually have some very good options that I used to solve the complexity of the problem I was solving. Also, there spam filter seems to being catching things that the current system is not.

Lastly, about heavy resources, look at where we were a year ago with hardware and where we are now. And what is on the horizon. The computing power just keeps increasing and getting cheaper.

Interesting times,
Victor

]]> By: John Collet http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/comment-page-1/#comment-131628 John Collet Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:18:01 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/?p=13140#comment-131628 We have moved 370 users from Exchange to Zimbra which was a disaster. Almost lost my job over that one. Zimbra is just as heavy on resources as MS and their "Outlook Connector" is a joke (I have a long list but you get the idea). Outlook was constantly crashing. After a dozen complaints, they told us to use their "desktop", a webclient with a glorified name meaning we'd give up the Outlook functionality that allows them to claim to be an Exchange alternative. I've found and have tested BCS (Bynari collaboration suite) and after 3 months of trialing was impressed with the product and the price but the support was and is unparalleled. We bought it and have used it for 6 months now without a hicup. www.bynari.net We have moved 370 users from Exchange to Zimbra which was a disaster. Almost lost my job over that one. Zimbra is just as heavy on resources as MS and their “Outlook Connector” is a joke (I have a long list but you get the idea). Outlook was constantly crashing. After a dozen complaints, they told us to use their “desktop”, a webclient with a glorified name meaning we’d give up the Outlook functionality that allows them to claim to be an Exchange alternative. I’ve found and have tested BCS (Bynari collaboration suite) and after 3 months of trialing was impressed with the product and the price but the support was and is unparalleled. We bought it and have used it for 6 months now without a hicup. http://www.bynari.net

]]> By: Justin Freeman http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/comment-page-1/#comment-111974 Justin Freeman Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:27:10 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/?p=13140#comment-111974 Zimbra pricing is pretty straight forward: free (open source edition), annual or perpetual licenses. Price points are for 25 mailboxes, no server license or CPU license required. There are significant discounts for educational and government institutions. Agileware have a detailed listing of Zimbra pricing across the entire product range available here, http://agileware.net/howtobuy/zimbra Go Zimbra! :) Zimbra pricing is pretty straight forward: free (open source edition), annual or perpetual licenses. Price points are for 25 mailboxes, no server license or CPU license required. There are significant discounts for educational and government institutions.

Agileware have a detailed listing of Zimbra pricing across the entire product range available here, http://agileware.net/howtobuy/zimbra

Go Zimbra! :)

]]> By: The VAR Guy http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/comment-page-1/#comment-111962 The VAR Guy Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:20:46 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/?p=13140#comment-111962 Victor: The VAR Guy will ping Zimbra to see if they have any additional insights they can share with you. Thanks for reading. The VAR Guy appreciates the dialog. -TVG Victor: The VAR Guy will ping Zimbra to see if they have any additional insights they can share with you. Thanks for reading. The VAR Guy appreciates the dialog.
-TVG

]]> By: Victor http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/07/20/vmware-channel-set-to-attack-microsoft-exchange-on-aug-1/comment-page-1/#comment-111959 Victor Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:49:01 +0000 http://www.thevarguy.com/?p=13140#comment-111959 Hi TVG, This article made me check the pricing of Zimbra. I wanted to compare it to Kerio for a solution I am working on. I had a problem understanding their pricing. It did not seem that great compared to Kerio or Exchange. Maybe I will have to wait until Aug. I think that products like Zimbra and Kerio that seem to work with Outlook will put pressure on MS and Exchange. Exchange has increased in complexity and options. Really hard to recommend to small business. Unless they are hosted options, which I like and dislike. I will be watching Aug. 1. Thanks, Victor Hi TVG,

This article made me check the pricing of Zimbra. I wanted to compare it to Kerio for a solution I am working on. I had a problem understanding their pricing. It did not seem that great compared to Kerio or Exchange. Maybe I will have to wait until Aug. I think that products like Zimbra and Kerio that seem to work with Outlook will put pressure on MS and Exchange. Exchange has increased in complexity and options. Really hard to recommend to small business. Unless they are hosted options, which I like and dislike.
I will be watching Aug. 1.
Thanks,
Victor

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