How one customer said no to Exchange but yes to Outlook and Windows Mobile (part 1)

From Microsoft Subnet editor Julie Bort: On Friday, I had a conversation with an IT professional whose communication strategy is backwards from how most of the rest of the world seems to be doing it. This company has snubbed Microsoft Exchange even though it has standardized on Outlook as its e-mail/contact manager client. At the same time, it has embraced (and is loving) Windows Mobile as its mobile workforce standard (rather than popular favorite BlackBerry).

The company, Globe Manufacturing, Pittsfield, N.H., makes protective clothing and footwear used by emergency services professionals such as firefighters. (Aside: Globe gives new meaning to the idea of "legacy." The company was founded in 1887 beginning as a maker of harnesses). In November, Globe ditched its outsourced e-mail provider to bring e-mail inhouse using a product called PostPath. In all fairness, Globe never used Exchange, although the leader of the e-mail renovation project, Nick Bonnett, IT specialist, has had plenty of experience with Exchange when he worked at other companies.

As mentioned, Globe was using a Software-as-a-Service provider for e-mail. Globe has three locations and, Bonnett discovered, much of the e-mail was being sent between employees. Using an outsourced provider meant that these messages were being sent out to the Internet, then retrieved over the Internet just to travel down the hall. Bonnett realized that there were far better uses for company's bandwidth. Additionally, Globe had been using an outdated version of ACT! as its contact manager. A good number of employees had already ditched ACT! for the integrated e-mail, calendar, contact functions of Outlook.

The Linux-based PostPath server (CentOS) was chosen as an alternative to Exchange because it bills itself as a drop-in replacement for Exchange and far less expensive. Globe isn't doing VoIP and has no plans for unified communications, so it doesn't need Exchange's fancier features. It has already started to integrate Linux servers into its generally Windows network. "We have a Windows server running the network, including an Active Directory server to manage operations. We have started to delve into Linux more -- we have a Linux Web server for instance and our network attached storage is all Linux based," Bonnett says.

The Linux-based NAS hangs off the company's AS/400, too. All of this "drives down costs," he says. Globe also uses products like Samba to help all boxes on the network talk to each other. He says the cost of PostPath, including a high-end server was equivalent to the cost of only the Exchange server license without the needed hardware. Because the company had already licensed Office, it had most of the copies of Outlook it needed, too.

The bonus is that Bonnett feels a little safer, and has less maintenance, since his e-mail server uses an operating system that is not as much a target for malware. "PostPath is a very viable alternative to Exchange. We brought it inhouse as an alternative to an Exchange server because it talks to Outlook, to Active Directory and functions in the same way Exchange does. If someone needs to add another server but can't justify the expense of Exchange -- even if it's just a backup Exchange server, PostPath can serve that function as well, with a lot less maintenance. I've done two updates since I've had PostPath, and those have been to add features to the product."

Tomorrow: Globe Manufacturing's love affair with Windows Mobile

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