Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
The upcoming version of Exchange, formerly code-named "Titanium" should be out by the time you read this. In this latest version of Exchange, Microsoft has only focused on e-mail and calendaring. Things like instant messaging, chat and key management services that were available bundled with Exchange 2000 are now available separately from Exchange 2003. All the collaborative functions are handed over to SharePoint Team Services and SharePoint Portal Server. This also means that you would have to use multiple servers just like you have to with Notes/Domino/QuickPlace/Sametime in order to collaborate that right way.Exchange 2003 comes in two flavours, Standard Edition for small to medium organisations and Enterprise Edition for large organisations. The Standard Edition has a few limitations. It supports only one storage group and it can only contain two databases.
Its databases are also limited to a maximum size of 16GB. The Enterprise Edition supports up to four storage groups and each group can have five databases. Databases can also be up to 16TB. Eight-way clustering is also supported in Enterprise Edition.
Exchange 2003 runs on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP3 or later, however it's optimised for Windows Server 2003. Also several of Exchange 2003's features require Windows 2003 to run.
We installed Exchange 2003 on the Xenon Pentium 4 server and SharePoint on the Acer Xeon-based server. We had to install Windows Server 2003 on both of these servers before we installed Exchange and SharePoint. We also plugged each of these servers to a D-Link Fast Ethernet switch and connected two client PCs up to the switch.
We also had to configure the test server as a domain controller. What domain controllers do is store data and manage user and domain interactions, including user logon processes, authentication, and directory searches. So in order to provide the Active Directory service to network users and computers, we had to configure the test server as a domain controller. We also had to install IIS 6.0 and ASP .Net v1.1. With SharePoint, we didn't have to do too much to get it up and running.
The Active Directory Users and Computers and Exchange System Manager can be used to administer networks, computers, services, and other system components. Exchange also features a Migration wizard. The wizard makes it easy for you to migrate mail from Microsoft Exchange as well as Lotus Notes and Novell Groupwise.
The Outlook client and Notes client are noticeably different. Outlook is a little easier to use and looks and feels more like a typical mail client. Notes appears a little dated and different but that said, it won't take you too long to get the hang of.
You can configure Exchange 2003 to run Outlook Web Access much the same as you can configure Notes/Domino to run iNotes. Exchange 2003 also has integrated support for mobile devices, so devices such as Pocket PC PDAs and Windows-powered smart phones can synchronise with Exchange 2003.
Exchange also has some new improved abilities to restrict connections and e-mail messages that work like Access Control Lists. There's support for attachment blocking, and it also comes with new anti-spam features to block mail and has an improved virus scanner.
SharePoint
SharePoint Team Services is essentially a team Web site that is designed to improve the way in which your team manages and shares information. It is designed for small workgoups, while SharePoint Portal Server is designed for large workgroups. With Team Services you can create a team or site that can serve as a central repository for information relating to a project. For example, you could share documents, tasks and discussions with anyone who is from the same team and all you need to share information is a Web browser and access to your corporate network or the Internet.
The team home page or the welcoming page can list any announcements or events or any other important information that you want your team to be aware of. The home page can also be customised to display only certain information. You can also change the way your site looks like by assigning a different template.
You can also create discussion boards where team members can post messages for everyone to view and reply to. You can create your own surveys and even generate graphs based on the information that was collected from your survey. Team Services also uses a task list to keep track of who has to do what in your team.
As we mentioned large workgroups would use SharePoint Portal Server v2.0. SharePoint Portal Server gives you more control over your information. The table below gives you a good view of the differences between Team Services and Portal Server.
| Product: | Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 |
| Price: | Exchange Standard Server AU$1533 per server license, Exchange Client $147. See Pricing and support table on page 82 for more details. |
| Vendor: | Microsoft |
| Phone: | 132 058 |
| Web: | www.microsoft.com.au |
| Interoperability: |
½
Limited support for non-Microsoft operating systems. |
| Futureproofing: |
½
Scales up quite well. Option of Standard and Enterprise Editions. |
| ROI: |
½Good ROI for organisations already running Exchange. |
| Service: |
Wide range of support available. |
| Rating: |
½ |
3%
2%
This article seems to overlook the historically poor performance of the Lotus Notes client for regular email and calendaring functions.
Even most workers at IBM cannot get the web mail portions to work properly.
I love the way the author described the EXTREMEMLY overdue feature of automatic inbox refreshing. This feature has been a "Duh" default in even free email clients for years.
Advanced collaboration functions are of little value if I cannot count on the basic commincation features.