Why Microsoft Exchange No Longer Has a Lock on Business Email

why microsoft exchange no longer has a lock on business email
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One interesting thing about Microsoft’s recent communications regarding its public beta of Office 2013 is that the emphasis has been entirely on the client-side and cloud-based aspects. To learn anything more about the new Microsoft Exchange server requires more digging.

This is a sign of how Microsoft is shifting focus, and though it is keeping and adapting most of its legacy office programs, it is starting to recognize that its models are becoming less viable in the face of Microsoft Exchange alternative providers.

Organizations Are Losing Fear of Hosted and Cloud-Based Solutions

Email has been one of the prime vectors of malicious attack, and in fact the combination of “Microsoft Outlook + VBScript” used to be almost synonymous with basic hacking. Companies have been forced to stay guarded when it comes to email content as it contains the core of all internal communications and is also a powerful resource for attackers. This has been enough to justify the overhead associated with storage, licensing, and upkeep of email systems.

However, things have changed in recent years. Enterprise organizations are willing to trust their email exchange to hosted/cloud-based third parties, finding that security is often more than adequate and that the ability to leverage web access and mobility creates returns in productivity that more than justify the risks of giving up control.

Competitors Have Established Viability

Microsoft Exchange market share has dropped accordingly. Gmail as a business solution may have not been a widely-embraced idea when Google first launched its services, but nowadays email as part of Google Apps for Business has become the go to solution for countless successful organizations.

In addition, open source exchange alternatives such as Zarafa have allowed businesses to build an entirely Exchange-compatible email stack on top of a Linux-based solution. This allows them to leverage the advantages of local control yet also sidestep massive ongoing licensing costs and easily implement mobile and web-based access.

If you are evaluating your long term email strategies and considering migration, contact a trusted Exchange alternative provider.

What alternative email solution is better than Microsoft Exchange?

Microsoft Exchange and its associated Outlook client have been the face of enterprise communications for many years and are pretty much synonymous with the idea of work email. That does not mean, however, that there are not open source alternatives. There is a slate of clients/email servers that replicate the functions of Microsoft’s email solutions and not only have transparent code but plug into Linux server backends. One of the most well-known is Zarafa.

Zarafa released its email client/server technology as open source in 2008. Its distinguishing feature is that it is offered as a full-fledged, transparent replacement for Exchange, giving all its benefits as well as some additional features not available on the proprietary system:

Similarities

Zarafa has maintained an almost identical look and feel compared to Outlook, which is good news for any organization that decides to switch over as users can easily adjust. It not only is familiar in layout but carries similar features such as the address book, calendar, and public folders to which Outlook users have become accustomed. It also provides connectivity with Outlook by means of a plugin. Microsoft uses the proprietary Messaging API (MAPI) for communication between Exchange and Outlook. Zafara has implemented its own version (Mapi4Linux) for compatibility. Like Exchange it can also perform authentication through LDAP and Active Directory.

Differences

Linux is the platform of choice for Zafara, as you would expect, and it plugs into a MySQL database for added security. In addition to the difference in OS, the email client for Zafara is an AJAX-based web-app as opposed to being a stand-alone application like Outlook, giving it high accessibility as well as ease of use from mobile devices. As with all open-source solutions, it is cheaper than Exchange to license but not entirely free, as it comes in Standard, Professional, and Enterprise editions at different price points.