Concerned about migration? You're not alone

Unified Communications This newsletter is sponsored by PlateSpin Where To Find Affordable Disaster Recovery Virtualization is expanding across the enterprise, allowing companies to get more out of their networks without busting their budget. Now you can leverage virtualization to provide affordable disaster recovery and safeguard the under-protected servers in your network. Click here to download and learn how. Network World's Unified Communications Newsletter, 06/19/07 Concerned about migration? You’re not alone By Michael Osterman We recently conducted a large survey of organizations on behalf of PostPath, asking messaging decision-makers about their concerns on a number of issues related to messaging migration, etc. Here’s some of what we found: * Most decision makers are concerned about various issues related to the migration to Microsoft Exchange 2007, including the complexity of the migration effort, the amount of time it will take, the cost of the migration and the need to upgrade hardware. * Many organizations are still running Exchange 5.5 servers, although these servers support only a small percentage of total Exchange users. VoIP: Lessons from Early Adopters Experts say VoIP isnt a magic wand that will solve all of an organizations communications challenges right out of the box. Learn why VoIP may not produce expected savings and productivity gains, and other lessons from early adopters. Click Here to Watch * Most decision-makers anticipate that their migration will take anywhere from three to 12 months. There are a number of conclusions that we drew from the results we obtained, coupled with data that we have discovered from other studies. First, many organizations are looking for an alternative to Exchange 2003 and earlier versions, one that will support a greater number of users per server, that will allow systems to be managed with fewer IT staffers and one that has lower licensing fees. Paramount in the minds of most decision-makers, however, is that users must still be allowed to use Outlook, since Outlook works quite well for most users and replacing it would be expensive and difficult. There are a number of good alternatives to the Exchange Server that will allow the use of existing 32-bit hardware and that have lower licensing fees, and that allow Outlook to be used, thereby minimizing the impact on end users. We anticipate that millions of seats will migrate to an Exchange alternative over the next few years. Another important conclusion, however, is that most Exchange-enabled organizations (as well as organizations that are not currently using Exchange) will migrate to Exchange 2007 at some point – the survey found that only 16% of organizations surveyed would not migrate to Exchange. Exchange 2007 provides a number of important benefits, including larger mailboxes; support for many more users per server and lots of other important enhancements. Yes, more expensive 64-bit hardware is required and migration will not be trivial, but most Exchange-enabled organizations will remain with Exchange because of the many benefits of doing so. As I see it, there will be a rising tide for Exchange and Exchange alternatives. We are forecasting that the number of seats for both will continue to grow over the next several years as messaging capabilities expand worldwide and as corporate employees who are not traditional messaging users will be provided with e-mail and real-time communications capabilities.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: For webinars or research on messaging, or to join the Osterman Research market research survey panel, go here. Osterman Research helps organizations understand the markets for messaging and directory related offerings. To e-mail Michael, click here. This newsletter is sponsored by PlateSpin Where To Find Affordable Disaster Recovery Virtualization is expanding across the enterprise, allowing companies to get more out of their networks without busting their budget. Now you can leverage virtualization to provide affordable disaster recovery and safeguard the under-protected servers in your network. Click here to download and learn how. ARCHIVE Archive of the Unified Communications Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007