Lets start out with, I am NOT an Exchange Administrator. We brand others for that. I am an *nix Administrator, but I know more then most on Exchange. We tried to provide hosted services using different platforms on Linux only to be left hanging from either lack of support and or stuff that just didn’t work right. If you want Exchange, the best thing is well Exchange period.
I get asked on a daily basis from one person or another, why would I want to pay for hosted Exchange vs having my own Exchange Server. I currently only offer Exchange 2007, so we are going to base everything from this point on Exchange 2007. We are going to account for 15 users, of course I can provide Exchange for 1 or 1000+ its up to you.
So what do you get with Zero’s hosted Exchange Solution. Well you get 1 Gb per user in storage, so a total of 15 Gb, with my control panel you can allocate who gets this space. You get multiple backups, including offsite. You get Spam and Virus protection for each mailbox with user and domain level interfaces to manage your own spam and virus settings. We maintain our spam rules a continuing 24/7 basis, we don’t wait for someone else to figure it out. You get 24 hour 7 day a week 365 day a year Support for the server. The server is maintained in a fully redundant, secured, data center. Redundant in Power, Cooling, and Internet Connections.
Most important, in my opinion, you are not going to call and speak to someone who has a manual, someone who hasn’t a clue how email works. You are going to speak to an engineer, and you are going to speak to someone that can help you now! Personally I have over 15 years of Corporate/Enterprise messaging, and currently maintain several Qmail Clusters and Exchange Gateways based on either Qmail and or Postfix.
So lets compare some numbers, we are going to assume that you have a Windows Network environment with cal’s (Client Access License) for all of your users and an Active Directory already setup. We are only going to worry about the Exchange server in pricing.
If you have a full IT staff you will probably not need to hire any additional IT person to maintain your Exchange server. Remember when hiring them, they need MORE then just Exchange experience. This is a problem alot of companies run into. Their IT staff can handle Exchange until they hook it up to the internet. If you are not able to delegate Exchange administration to someone else, just a good guess but add around $40,000 per year to this cost. This is the low end cost, not including benefits.
We need a few things for our 15 users (went cheapest where possible):
Exchange Server 2007 Standard Edition – $699
Exchange Cal (Client Access License, required for each user $67)x15 = $1005
Server Dell PowerEdge T105 $5,544 – includes 64 bit Processor(required for Exchange 2007), 4 Gb memory max for standard edition, windows server 2008 standard edition with 5 Cal, Raid 1 160 Gb drives, DAT72 backup drive with Symantec Backup Exec 12.5 for Email
Postini Google – $12.00 year = $180 (i looked for cheapest, or something I would use)
So you are looking at $7,428 just to start.
Add the additional staff and your at $47,428
So what does my hosted cost? Well its $12.95 per user per month. So it will take 3 years to pay off this if you do not need additional staff. If you need additional staff, you are looking at 20 years, just to pay for the first YEAR! We are also not accounting for maintenance, hardware replacements, software upgrades, etc… oh yea all that is included with mine. If you need addition license for your own, another $67 and I believe you can only buy them in 5 packs. Lets say you lay off 5 people… with your own Exchange server. You already bought it. With mine, the next month you only pay for 10 users.
And this is why I provide Microsoft Hosted Exchange. If you have questions you can use the “Contact“ above or call me 205-978-9230 ext 234, and I will point you in the right direction.
Its related:
Why Microsoft Hosted Exchange?
Lets start out with, I am NOT an Exchange Administrator. We brand others for that. I am an *nix Administrator, but I know more then most on Exchange. We tried to provide hosted services using different platforms on Linux only to be left hanging from either lack of support and or stuff that just didn’t work right. If you want Exchange, the best thing is well Exchange period.
I get asked on a daily basis from one person or another, why would I want to pay for hosted Exchange vs having my own Exchange Server. I currently only offer Exchange 2007, so we are going to base everything from this point on Exchange 2007. We are going to account for 15 users, of course I can provide Exchange for 1 or 1000+ its up to you.
So what do you get with Zero’s hosted Exchange Solution. Well you get 1 Gb per user in storage, so a total of 15 Gb, with my control panel you can allocate who gets this space. You get multiple backups, including offsite. You get Spam and Virus protection for each mailbox with user and domain level interfaces to manage your own spam and virus settings. We maintain our spam rules a continuing 24/7 basis, we don’t wait for someone else to figure it out. You get 24 hour 7 day a week 365 day a year Support for the server. The server is maintained in a fully redundant, secured, data center. Redundant in Power, Cooling, and Internet Connections.
Most important, in my opinion, you are not going to call and speak to someone who has a manual, someone who hasn’t a clue how email works. You are going to speak to an engineer, and you are going to speak to someone that can help you now! Personally I have over 15 years of Corporate/Enterprise messaging, and currently maintain several Qmail Clusters and Exchange Gateways based on either Qmail and or Postfix.
So lets compare some numbers, we are going to assume that you have a Windows Network environment with cal’s (Client Access License) for all of your users and an Active Directory already setup. We are only going to worry about the Exchange server in pricing.
If you have a full IT staff you will probably not need to hire any additional IT person to maintain your Exchange server. Remember when hiring them, they need MORE then just Exchange experience. This is a problem alot of companies run into. Their IT staff can handle Exchange until they hook it up to the internet. If you are not able to delegate Exchange administration to someone else, just a good guess but add around $40,000 per year to this cost. This is the low end cost, not including benefits.
We need a few things for our 15 users (went cheapest where possible):
So you are looking at $7,428 just to start.
Add the additional staff and your at $47,428
So what does my hosted cost? Well its $12.95 per user per month. So it will take 3 years to pay off this if you do not need additional staff. If you need additional staff, you are looking at 20 years, just to pay for the first YEAR! We are also not accounting for maintenance, hardware replacements, software upgrades, etc… oh yea all that is included with mine. If you need addition license for your own, another $67 and I believe you can only buy them in 5 packs. Lets say you lay off 5 people… with your own Exchange server. You already bought it. With mine, the next month you only pay for 10 users.
And this is why I provide Microsoft Hosted Exchange. If you have questions you can use the “Contact“ above or call me 205-978-9230 ext 234, and I will point you in the right direction.