Another Microsoft FAIL, Lotus Foundations kicks ass, proven by CRN

Last night, I started noticing tweets about CRN’s article on Lotus Foundations winning over Microsoft Small Business Server. I reserved my post to gauge the community response and as suspected, folks are passionate about Lotus Foundations. I guess, once you go Foundations, you don’t turn back.

CRN writes,

And while some may dismiss IBM’s claims as marketing hype, interviews with a number of solution providers that carry both the Lotus and Microsoft products say there’s some truth to IBM’s assertions.

Be advised that the quotes in the article are not from our previous press release. CRN researched and interviewed the business partners themsleves and quoted them.

“We’re seeing a big increase in the number of customers moving to the Foundations server,” said James Sulfare, owner of Solinkit, a Chambersburg, Pa.-based solution provider. Solinkit works with both Foundations and Microsoft SBS and in an interview Sulfare said both “are excellent products.”

“About 80 percent of the situations we walk into now are a Foundations solution,” said Tim Miller, executive vice president of intellectual property at EnVision Solutions, a Raleigh, N.C.-based systems integrator that sells Foundations and Microsoft Small Business Server.

Solution providers also say cost has been a factor in their embrace of Lotus Foundations over Microsoft SBS. (Well, during a recession, one cannot expect to have unnecessary expenses. Patch Tuesday anyone?) Miller at EnVision Solutions said customers would bump up against the 50-user limit of Microsoft SBS and faced sticker shock when told how much it would cost to upgrade to standard Windows Server, Exchange and other Microsoft products.

“We were very short on options to offer solutions to customers,” Miller said. He cited one customer in Richmond, Va., that was using SBS to support 46 employees until earlier this year and needed to expand, a move Miller said would cost nearly $50,000. “The director of operations looked at me and said, ‘Are you insane,’” Miller said. An EnVision engineer had been testing Lotus Foundations and suggested the customer try it instead — a plan that ultimately saved the customer about $10,000 in up-front licensing costs and $20,000 a year in ongoing expenses, according to Miller.

Last year Microsoft began offering Windows Essential Business Server, a server package designed as the next step up from SBS with support for 300 users and/or devices.

Miller said he has considered offering customers the Essential Business Server package. But he said it still requires significant costly hardware and software upgrades.

Solinkit’s Sulfare also said Lotus Foundations is a less-costly solution than Microsoft products. Other advantages: Foundations is capable of running Microsoft applications including the Outlook e-mail client, he said, and the number of third-party applications that take advantage of Foundations’ self-installing capabilities is growing.

Said Sulfare of Foundations: “It’s channel-centric.” And of Microsoft: “Just offering the Microsoft server is not what the future holds.”

Well, there you have it folks. This is as real as it gets. If you haven’t tried Lotus Foundations, check out the free 30 day trial.

Outlook Bleak on Microsoft Exchange Paradigm

Increasing number of VAR’s are considering alternatives to MS Exchange/Outlook.

Guest post by Blair MacDonald, Business Development Manager at IBM.

Since I have been hearing so many complaints from IT resellers about the pains of Microsoft over the past few months, I figured I would condense them into a quick post. How am I coming across these complaints? I’m responsible for recruiting VAR’s into the reseller program for IBM Lotus Foundations. Typically in the past, I had to really campaign the SMB channel to bring resellers on board. Since last year’s US election, I haven’t had to call out as much. That’s because more and more VAR’s seem to be on the lookout for alternatives Microsoft solutions. Some are even are finding out about the Lotus Foundations offering and come beating down my door.

Now, I’m trying to be as objective as possible and just telling you what I’ve been hearing. Just so you know, I didn’t just go out and find a bunch of pro-Notes/Domino articles that trash MS Exchange. Actually, the links throughout this post have been provided to me by Microsoft VAR’s, who have become frustrated, disheartened and disgruntled, with the direction Microsoft has taken in the past couple of years. Some have gone so far as to say that they are embarrassed to offer Microsoft solutions, because it ends up costing their clients more money to maintain. But Microsoft has maintained such a strong control on marketshare in the SMB space for so long, they have become a paradigm. So really, what’s all the fuss about? Why the shift?

I haven’t really put this in any logical order, and my post isn’t very long. The links are compelling enough, so I don’t really need to add much commentary.

Transitioning from Exchange 2000/2003 to Exchange 2007 can be tricky. At least that’s most people’s perception. After doing a bit of searching, I think the process is probably fairly straightforward, if you’re really savvy with Exchange and Active Directory. However, it does take a large amount of reading. It might also make some people nervous to know that there are no supported “in-place upgrades” to Exchange 2007, not no mention it requires 64-bit hardware to run it. In today’s economy, who wants to spend the extra dough upgrading to 64-bit hardware? (Recall: Microsoft Vista also required you to upgrade to have similar performance as XP)
http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Transitioning-Exchange-2000-2003-Exchange-Server-2007-Part1.html

Many people are talking about moving Exchange 2007 to a virtualized environment. If that’s the case, why not run it in Lotus Foundations Run? (Oops, did I just actually say that?) Well, if these guys put MS SBS on LFR, then why not Exchange 2007?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o25jpiVjheU

Well, if you really want to, I suppose you could. You might want to do that if you really, really like Microsoft and want to keep using the Exchange/Outlook stack. But, with the extra administrative overhead, is it really worth it? Hmmmm…

Plus, the Lotus Notes 8.5 user interface is so intuitive and easy to use, it’s not a huge stretch in transitioning away from Outlook. So why fork out the extra cash? Why not just utilize the Domino/Notes stack that’s included with Lotus Foundations Start?

Outlook is no longer included in Exchange 2007 or MS SBS 2008 CAL’s. What’s interesting is that this has been known since late 2006, but some people were still unaware of this in 2008. It seems that the folks in Redmond who like to spend so much on marketing, forgot to mention that in the brochure. http://www.petri.co.il/forums/showthread.php?p=50962

But oh well, you get a really cool client called OWA.

I think that what it all really comes down to is that people are looking for value… “bang for their hard earned buck”. Especially in today’s economy. That’s why it’s fascinating to see CRN’s review of ND 8.5 vs. Exchange 07. The verdict — close call but Lotus wins! Exchange won on feature set and performance while Notes/Domino took installation and interoperability. The tiebreaker — is cost, swaying CRN’s overall recommendation to Lotus. So ease-of-deployment, superior integration with Web 2.0 tools and serious savings are all key advantages that this review independently reinforces.
http://www.crn.com/mobile/217800062

It just reinforces what ITComparison.com said almost a year ago.