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If you do prefer to host your own e-mail server, you should take a look at the new Kerio MailServer 6.5. I called Dusan Vitek, vice president of worldwide marketing for Kerio, and asked him the biggest difference between Kerio and Microsoft Exchange.

“Ease of administration,” said Vitek. “We win hands down there. The most difficult part of the sales process is to get administrators to install the product and look at the console. When they do, the sales cycle shrinks to days.”

Kerio improved their Outlook Connector, providing expanded support between the Outlook client and the Kerio MailServer. Shared calendars and even offline support now come as part of the package. Do you have Windows Active Directory? Kerio works with it, just like Exchange does. But unlike Exchange, Kerio also supports OpenDir for Macintosh users. You can run the Kerio MailServer on Windows, Macintosh, or Linux servers.

The server starts at $499 for 10 users, and additional user licenses are $20 each. A McAfee-enhanced server version starts at $599, and those user licenses start at $24 each.

But Kerio certainly isn't the only option. HyperOffice, a hosted collaboration workspace vendor I've mentioned before, also offers full Exchange server capabilities for clients anywhere on the Internet. HyperOffice costs more per user per month than Everyone.net, but they offer a large set of handy collaboration tools and services as well as e-mail.

Fans of the iPhone may want to contact HyperOffice, because they've added the code on their end needed to make the iPhone a real enterprise communication device. They solved two problems to corporate iPhone adoption: better Exchange integration, and links to Outlook calendars, contacts, documents and tasks. Using their fairly recent HyperShare gateway tool, HyperOffice users get all the benefits of Outlook backed by an Exchange sever without the hassle and expense of hosting it themselves. And iPhone users can do more than just listen to iTunes between phone calls. You can get iPhone support for your small company that many global enterprises can't offer their iPhone users.

Finally, a quick reminder about the spam blocking appliances from MailFoundry. They promise “no false positives” and mean it. Even better, they offer a hosted spam-filtering service. And if you need 10 or fewer mail boxes, MailFoundry will do your spam filtering for free (Compare antispam products).

Not a bad year for e-mail improvements so far. Mail service options include more features, less money, and easier to manage. This works out to your advantage no matter which of several e-mail options you choose.