Email servers have evolved considerably over the years. From being basic
solutions that send/receive emails, they've become full-fledged platforms that
enable unified communication in an enterprise, allow social networking, and even
enable workflow automation. What this obviously means is that an enterprise
doesn't choose a simple mail server anymore. It chooses the platform and then
selects components that cater to its specific business requirements.
IBM Domino/Notes and Microsoft Exchange are the two dominant players in this
space, which are now in their 2010 and 8.5 versions respectively. If you're
already using one of them, then you need to decide whether or not to upgrade to
its newer version or migrate to the other one.
Neither is an easy decision, so to help you, we're starting an online series
of articles to take you through the key aspects of each platform. Let's start
with a brief overview of the new features that each platform has to offer in its
latest release.
IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5
There are three significant changes in the new releases of Notes and Domino.
First is that the Domino Designer can be freely downloaded from IBM's
Developerworks website, allowing even more developers to build applications for
the Domino platform.
Key Highlights |
IBM Lotus Domino/Notes 8.5
Microsoft Exchange/Outlook 2010
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The second significant change is in client licensing. There's an enterprise
Client Access License and a Messaging License. The first offers full access to
the Domino platform, while the second restricts access to messaging, calendaring
& scheduling, etc. The third significant change is that users can access the
platform from anywhere, be it from a Notes client using the desktop, from the
web using iNotes, or from mobile devices using the Lotus Notes Traveler.
Another significant change being touted in the Notes and Domino platform is
better collaboration capabilities. The platform can integrate well with other
Lotus offerings like Connections for Social Networking, SameTime for real time
communication with audio/video/instant messaging, etc.
Lastly, there are specific features built into Domino for helping you with
your green IT initiatives, and reduce storage space.
MS Exchange Server 2010
The three key focus areas for Exchange 2010 are to enhance flexibility and
reliability, provide anywhere access, and enable better protection and
compliance. Here, more flexibility and reliability are provided through better
high-availability features, role based access control for better compliance and
user self-service, improved routing to enhance performance, etc. Anywhere access
incorporates unified messaging capabilities with better voice mail management, a
much better Outlook Web Access, POP3 and IMAP4 cross-site connectivity. Lastly,
several compliance features have been added to retain and archive emails,
provide compliance officers access to multiple mailboxes, store all email,
appointments, etc for a specific period of time even if they're deleted for
ensuring compliance, and much more.
There are three types of licenses in Exchange 2010-server, client access, and
external connector licenses. The server license is split into standard and
enterprise editions. The former is meant for SMEs, while the latter is aimed at
large enterprises. Client Access Licenses or CALs are also split into standard
and enterprise. Here, the standard license provides access to users from any
device, be it desktop, laptop, web, or mobile device. Plus, other Exchange 2010
server features for easier administration, enhanced email management are also
included. The enterprise CAL has everything from the Standard CAL, plus
archiving and information protection capabilities. The Enterprise CAL is an
add-on to Standard CAL. Lastly, the external connectors license is useful where
the number of CALs is uncertain, e.g. where you need to provide access to your
partners, suppliers, customers, etc.
Both platforms pack quite a punch with so many features. In our next series,
we'll dive deeper into the specific features we talked about in this article for
each platform. Please do feel free to add a comment in case you have any
specific questions related to these two platforms.
Next-Lotus
Domino/Notes Vs. Exchange/Outlook: Features Overview