Analysis by Novell
The following information presents finding from a September 11th Novell report that compares GroupWise 7 to Exchange 2007 and examines the costs associated with migrating from Exchange 5.5 to GroupWise 7 or Exchange 2007.
Building Exchange 2007
1: The Infrastructure
Exchange 2007 requires Active Directory. All users are required to be in Active Directory before they can be Exchange users. This is unlike GroupWise 7, which requires eDirectory only for management - users do not need to be in eDirectory. (eDirectory can be installed on any SUSE Linux, Windows or NetWare box where GroupWise is running.) Therefore, if you do not have Active Directory fully deployed with all users in it, you will need to build Active Directory. This will require servers, the number of which depends upon the size of your organization. As part of this cost, you will need Windows 2003 servers and a Client Access License (CAL) for each user in Active Directory.
Consider the infrastructure costs of Exchange 2007 compared to a Google Apps solution which requires no investment in hardware.
2: x64-bit Hardware
Exchange 2007 requires x64-bit hardware. This is unlike GroupWise, which can run on any x32-bit server and has the same, if not better, performance. Now most hardware in the last few years has x64 ability. But you cannot just install Exchange on your existing servers where file/print and other services are running. You first have to decide, again based upon the size of your organization, just how you will deploy Exchange. You see, with Exchange 2007 there are new Server Roles.
Exchange Server Roles
- Client Access Role - acts as a proxy for Internet traffic in order to direct mail to the proper mailbox server. It handles Outlook Web Access services and mobility.
- Mailbox Role - acts as the host for user mailboxes, and core services.
- Hub Transport Role - acts as the "air traffic controller" for all internal messages between all server roles, or even between users in the same mailbox database. Message policy is enforced for all internal/external messaging, and all messages flow through this server.
- Unified Messaging Role - acts as the portal to PBX integration for all voice/fax messaging, including voice dial-in functions (only if you purchase the addition Enterprise Licensing for Exchange 2007).
- Edge Transport Role - acts as the border security to the Exchange 2007 system. This server is deployed outside the internal network, possibly in the DMZ. Typically, anti-virus/anti-Spam and links to Exchange Host Filtering are performed by this server. It cannot be deployed on the same server as the other server roles (only if you purchase the addition Enterprise Licensing for Exchange 2007).
The Mailbox server is the one server, similar to a post office in GroupWise 7, that requires special treatment for design. The number and size of databases, as well as storage, processing power and RAM, are important in order to get best performance.
The other servers do require consideration. The Hub transport is a single point of failure in an Exchange 2007 system, so providing redundancy is important. The Hub Transport is like a Routing Domain in GroupWise 7 - something rarely used, because it's a single point of failure. In Exchange 2007, it's a place where policies can be applied. Users that are online with Outlook can directly access the mailbox server without the Hub Transport. Small organizations may run all three server roles on one server.
Consider the cost of the hardware, multiple processors, large amount of RAM, etc., that you will need to support these server roles compared to a Google Apps solution.
3. Operating System
Exchange 2007 requires Windows 2003 R2 Server x64 for EACH server role. GroupWise 7 requires NetWare, or SUSE Linux, or Windows 2000/3 server. By the way, GroupWise 7 ships with all the SUSE Linux you can use for free, if GroupWise is running on it.
There are two versions of Windows 2003 R2 Server: Standard and Enterprise. Standard Edition supports 4-way symmetrical multiprocessing, while Enterprise Edition supports 8-way symmetrical multiprocessing. Standard Edition supports up to 4GB of RAM, while Enterprise supports up to 64GB of RAM. Standard is considered for work group or small organizations, whereas enterprise is for enterprise environments and applications. Therefore, you will have to purchase the Enterprise Edition of Windows 2003 R2 Server for Mailbox Server Roles in all but small environments. The other server roles can work fine with Standard Edition Windows 2003 R2 Server. But if you want to cluster any server role, Enterprise Edition is a must.
Consider the cost of which Windows 2003 R2 Server Edition you will need compared to Google Apps which requires you to purchase NO software EVER!
4. Exchange 2007 Server Licenses
You must purchase a server license for each Windows 2003 R2 Server that will run Exchange. GroupWise 7 licensing enables you to install on any number of servers, to infinity. And to make things more difficult, there are two editions of Exchange 2007 Server: Standard and Enterprise.
The Standard Exchange 2007 server edition is designed for small- to medium-sized organizations, whereas the Exchange 2007 Enterprise server edition is designed for large organizations. Exchange 2007 Standard allows for up to 5 Storage Groups and 5 databases per server, while the Exchange 2007 Enterprise version provides for up to 50 Storage Groups and 50 databases per server. If you have 1000+ users, and you are planning for individual mailboxes to grow to 1GB in size or larger, then Enterprise Edition is a must. If you think all server roles must be on Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition, they do not have to be. The Mailbox server role again is the first likely candidate, because it houses mailboxes (aka, the databases). But the larger the organization, the more redundancy, and the more likely other server roles will require Enterprise Edition Exchange 2007. Consider the cost of each needed Exchange 2007 Server edition.
Consider the cost of each needed Exchange 2007 Server edition to Google Apps which is $50 per user per year PERIOD! For every 10,000 email users, your anual IT costs are approximately $2.5 Million compared to Google Apps at a cost of $500,000 for the same 10,000 users with 25GB of mailbox space each.
5. Exchange 2007 CAL's
Once you have purchased hardware, Active Directory, Windows 2003 servers, CAL licenses for Active Directory access, and Exchange Server Licenses, you still need Exchange 2007 CAL's. Yes, that is correct. Not only do you have to purchase Exchange 2007 server, but you must purchase Exchange 2007 CAL for each user that will be in the Exchange 2007 system. And GroupWise 7? Well, GroupWise 7 just requires you to purchase one license for each user in the GroupWise 7 system and no server licenses - and if you use SUSE Linux, there's no operating system server licensing.
Consider the cost of each Exchange 2007 Client Access License compared to Google Apps.
6. Outlook 2007 Client
Next, you must purchase the Outlook 2007 client! If you want the full feature set of Exchange 2007, you must purchase the Outlook 2007 client. By comparison, the GroupWise 7 client is free and can be downloaded at: http://download.novell.com. For those organizations that have purchased or will purchase Office 2007, you get Outlook 2007 bundled with it. Or, you can purchase Outlook 2007 as a stand-alone product.
Consider Outlook 2007 costs compared to Google Apps.
7. Optional Exchange 2007 Enterprise CAL
The Exchange 2007 Enterprise CAL is optional and offered at an additional cost. It provides Unified Messaging, Firewall, and Antispam services, to name a few things. If you need this, consider this cost per person as well.
Consider costs for the optional Exchange 2007 Enterprise CAL to manage many of the services already included in Google Apps.
Requirements Recap
- You need Active Directory fully deployed on its own servers with all users added.
- You need x64-bit hardware.
- You need Windows 2003 R2 Server x64 Standard or Enterprise operating systems.
- You need Exchange 2007 Server Standard and/or Enterprise Edition for each Exchange Server Role.
- You need Exchange 2007 Client Access License for each user in the Exchange 2007 system. You also need a Client Access License for each user in Active Directory.
- You need the Outlook 2007 client.
- (Optional) You might want Exchange 2007 Enterprise CAL for Unified messaging, Firewall and Antispam services.
Counting the Costs
So how does all this look when you add it up with numbers? Let's assume you have a 5,000 user environment. Let's further assume you have to build the Exchange 2007 from scratch - because you do if you are migrating from GroupWise OR from Exchange 5.5/2000/2003!
Redundancy or clustering have not been considered in the tables below. The assumption is you already have a SAN already and all storage will be on the SAN. Another assumption is pricing. The MSRP and prices have been provided from CDW. Special volume discounting has not been considered. The tables below provide an estimate of what it takes to build a brand new Exchange 2007 5000 user system.
| Server Function | Number Needed | Hardware Unit Price | Hardware Total Price |
| Active Directory Server | 2 | $8,712 | $17,424 |
| Exchange Client Access Server | 1 | $8,712 | $8,712 |
| Exchange Hub Transport Server | 1 | $8,712 | $8,712 |
| Exchange Mailbox Server | 3 | $14,056 | $42,168 |
| Total Hardware Price | - | - | $77,016 |
Table 1: Exchange 2007 Hardware Costs
| Products | Number of Licenses Required | MSRP Per Unit Cost /
Total Required | CDW Per Unit Cost /
Total |
| 1 Exchange 2007 Enterprise Server Edition License | 5 | $3,999 / $19,995 | $3,932.99 / $19,664.95 |
| 1 Exchange Standard CAL User License | 5000 | $67 / $335,000 | $69.99 / $349,950 |
| 1 Outlook 2007 Client License | 5000 | $109.95 / $549,750 | $84.99 / $424,950 |
1 Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard (x64) Edition License
(+ 5 CAL's, 20 CAL's Total) | 4 | $999 / $3,996 | $959.99 / $3,839.96 |
1 Windows 2003 Server R2 Enterprise (x64) Edition License
(+ 25 CAL's, 75 CAL's Total) | 3 | $3,999 / $11,997 | $3,709.99 / $11,129.97 |
1 Windows Server CAL's License
(5000 CAL's needed minus 95 CAL's from server licenses) | 4905 | $39.95 / $195,954.75 | $29.99 / $147,100.95 |
| Total Price | - | $1,116,692.70 | $956,635.83 |
Table 2: Exchange 2007 Licensing Costs Summary
Big numbers and astronomical costs for a new system. I'm sure you are wondering how your organization is willing to spend this kind of money to change email platforms. A few things not included in the estimates above that should be considered:
- Administrator training must be paid for in order to support the environment.
- End user training must be provided to teach users how to use a new interface.
- Implementation costs, such as hiring a consultant - or several of them - everty time you upgrade your existing messaging infrastructure.
As you can see, migrating to Exchange 2007 is a costly venture. And it will be time-consuming as well, not to mention the loss of end user productivity as users learn a new client. On top of all of this, a truly respectable corporate officer or leader in an organization must ask himself: "Where is the return on investment?"
Now it's not always about money. Sometimes a migration is about "resume building" for the CIO or Director of IT or IT Staff. Sometimes it's about business processes such as a crucial application that can link into an email system. But when making a truly honest business decision, it is never justifiable to migrate from any email platform unless you can show good ROI and strong economies of scale. The fact is, less money can be spent to improve the existing system. So, if you need to migrate your existing email platform, do gather your facts and figures and make an honest, informed decision. Click here to learn more about the Cost of Ownership of a GroupWise 7 implementation. |