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Microsoft Exchange isn’t the only solution for messaging

Posted by Bilal Jaffery on Nov 6th, 2008 in web 2.0 | 2 comments

eWeek recently published an article on different options that are available in the market to get your message across. If you are a small business customer and not too keen on keeping your private business information on a 3rd party server, then you are most probably looking at some in-house server solution like myself. One can also consider one of the free free or cheap SAAS (Software as a Service) solutions that are out there. However, when I considered using gmail for my email and collaboration for a small project, I came across the dreaded Google Account-Disabled notice for no particular reason.

This message basically means that one of Google’s bot has found something wrong with your account and can shut it down without providing just cause. Considering I had all my personal email off forwarded to my gmail account, I regretted loosing my account for undetermined period of time. With, millions of accounts hosted on gmail, one cannot expect live phone support either. That is one of the the reasons why I will never opt for any kind of free or ultra inexpensive hosted solution for important business applications.

Anyway, back to the topic, eWeek brings up some really good points in regards to the different solutions that are out there and how you should not rely just on Microsoft only solution. For example, Lotus Domino 8.02 utilizes latest Web 2.0 collaboration technologies and Application deployment infrastructure for enterprises that allows limitless potential in scalability and productivity for an organization. Before you wonder, Lotus Foundations offers full Lotus Notes/Domino as part of its messaging platform!

Lotus Foundations is your source to get bullet proof solid enterprise messaging technology to your small business. Easy as that. At lower than usual pricing point as well.

http://www.lotus911.com Scott Hooks

Hi Bilal. I enjoy your blog, and I agree that Notes/Domino is a great alternative to Microsoft. I generally disagree with a couple of your points though.

“Lotus Foundations offers full Lotus Notes/Domino”? I think not. I am a Nitix / Foundations fan, but there are some serious limitations. Most notably, a Foundations server can not participate with other Domino servers in a Domain. Ability to replicate between servers is kind of a fundamental piece of Domino wouldn’t you say? Today, I can’t even migrate a server from an existing Domino server running Windows to a Domino server on Foundations without recertifying all of my users. I’m just pointing this out for the sake of someone who reads your article and assumes that they can do something like cluster for high availability or use a Foundations server as part of a larger Domino domain.

Second, the use of hosting services to run your critical business applications can actually be far more reliable than managing it internally. The risk of the hosting provider restricting you access is dependent upon your service agreement with the provider. I agree that using Google or other near-free public services for your critical business applications is a bad idea – because you don’t have any bargaining power with them. However, using hosting services such as Lotus 911, or the new IBM Hosted Notes Messaging is quite a different story.
http://www.Bilal.ca Bilal Jaffery

I agree with point #1, but I was raising it from number of SMB users that actually require replication between several domino servers?

As again, I always love getting expert opinion from partners like yourself.

I am only blogging from small business perspective, hence in point, why I wanted to talk about free services that most (under 10 users) small business users are also considering.

I agree that Lotus 911 and IBM’s new hosted messaging platform will be a refreshing change in this market.

As again, love to hear the feedback!

Microsoft Exchange isn’t the only solution for messaging

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