Total Business Solutions

Microsoft Exchange

We are experts in on premise Exchange administration and supporting Outlook for business.
If you are unsure whether to upgrade an existing Exchange server or to migrate onto the cloud, then why not call us today on 028 38868723 for FREE consultancy for your business?

Introduction
No longer the only solution, but the original business email collaboration software and still a powerful business tool. While it has been matched and even surpassed by web based solutions, Exchange is still the best option for Office Outlook users and while exchange Outlook connectors are available, Microsoft Exchange remains the only solution which can deliver 100% of Outlooks features.

Microsoft have moved their Exchange Server product more towards being a multi domain hosted solution and would prefer small businesses to switch to a hosted exchange service. As a result, Small Business Server been dropped and replaced with an Exchangeless essentials only server option which can integrate with their exchange online and office 365 services while providing an Active Directory to manage users and control network access to files and printers as well as database and web application services.

This leaves us with Hosted Exchange aimed mainly at smaller businesses and an On-Premise Exchange which will be developed for hosting companies and larger businesses.

Hosted Exchange
Microsoft Hosted Exchange is part of their Office 365 Web Based Application Suite. You will need a registered domain with access to manage the DNS records including TXT records and basic knowledge to follow the setup. We will look after the domain registration, management, and setup and provide remote support for £6 per mailbox per month.

Pros

No exchange installation, configuration and setup needed.
No need for expensive server hardware.
Reduced reliance on outsourced technical support.
Reduced skills required from Internal or outsourced technical support.
No initial software license purchase needed.
Data is in high capacity redundant data centres so DR is covered.
Security filtering services are included.

Cons

Data is stored outside of the business estate.
Exchange is on a separate business domain for which the business will never have full autonomy.
Additional logins and password changes have to be managed and synchronised to reduce the number of passwords.
Active Directory Federation services with local servers and administration diluting the benefits of hosted exchange.
Email access will be totally dependent on Internet connectivity.
Internet access in larger environments or where there are heavy email volumes will be impacted.
Cloud services are often overloaded which will result in poor performance when servers are under load from other business users.
Large mailboxes will cause sluggish behaviour when tabbing through folders.
The Exchange database cannot be read locally so only imap enabled email backup options are available.
Archiving or increased storage will incur extra expense.
Local archiving to PST will require a local backup option.

On Premise Exchange
If you prefer your email to remain on your local network, as we will always do, then you will require Microsoft licenses and suitable hardware to run them on. Small Business Server is gone and this is not a task you should trust to anyone who has not had years of experience managing a full Exchange domain (i.e. Small Business Server counts for nothing). Exchange remains the best solution for Microsoft Outlook and our preferred collaboration suite. By integrating Exchange with Microsoft Lync and our Hosted telephony solutions, we can deliver a central shared contacts directory fully integrated with Outlook and mobile devices with instant messaging, voice and video conferencing capability. The real benefits of keeping Exchange on premise are what additional benefits you can introduce with the server resources over the Internet.

Pros

Business have full domain autonomy over their email and data which is not available on hosted.
Data is stored on local servers.
Single domain login details so no additional passwords to remember.
Outlook will still function on a local network until Internet access is restored.
Large mailboxes will have no impact on other applications requiring Internet access.
Server performance is not effected by external factors.
Data can be backed up direct from Exchange via command line on the server or via installed backup software.
Outlook will be extremely fast and responsive when connected to a local exchange server.
At least two local servers are required so archive space and backup options will be available.
The Servers required to run Exchange can also be used to provide additional business applications.
Mobile device access is available and equal to that on Hosted Exchange.

Cons

Microsoft no longer provide reduced cost on-premise options increasing the initial licensing costs.
At least 2 Windows domain controller servers required to meet best practice guidelines so initial investment is required.
Exchange is complex software and requires technical ability and experienced administrators to manage.
Mailboxes will need to have data archiving policies implemented due to storage limitations.
Third party hosted email security is recommended to ensure security is not compromised.
An SSL Certificate is required to provide ActiveSync security.
Offsite storage and recovery steps will be required to ensure DR.

Next: Zentyal Mail Server

BMCA Solutions Limited