In addition to the OS dependencies in Exchange, you’ll face complex and expensive licensing issues if you move to Exchange. Every Windows server that you deploy will require its own license based on its role, resulting in a likely mix of Standard Edition licenses and Enterprise Edition licenses. For example, Exchange 2007 Standard server edition is designed for small to medium-sized organizations, allowing up to five storage groups and five databases per server. Exchange 2007 Enterprise server edition is designed for large organizations, providing up to 50 storage groups and 50 databases per server.
In addition to the licenses for Exchange servers, you’ll also need server licenses for all of your Active Directory servers that support the Exchange infrastructure. Additionally, you’ll need Client Access Licenses (CAL) for every Active Directory user. This means that to support 5000 Exchange users, you would need 5000 Windows CALs. Finally, if you want to use all the features in Exchange, you’ll also have to purchase the Outlook client for all of your users.
GroupWise makes things much simpler in terms of licensing, and much less expensive. GroupWise has a single cost—the cost of the GroupWise license itself. This license includes all of the server roles (in GroupWise these are domains, post offices and gateways), the ability to cluster GroupWise features and the client license. As mentioned before, any customer that has purchased GroupWise 7 or GroupWise 8 receives as many SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 licenses as they need to run GroupWise—for free! Also, if you have purchased Novell Open Enterprise Server 2, you are entitled to run as many two-node clusters as you want for no additional charge.
When you compare the software costs between the two solutions, in a 5,000 user Windows server environment you can save about $300,000 or more with GroupWise over Exchange 2007. (See Table 2.)
| Exchange 2007 | Number of Licenses Required | MSRP Per Unit Cost/Total Required |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange 2007 Enterprise Server Edition License | 5 | $3,999/$19,995 |
| Exchange Standard CAL User License | 5000 | $67/$335,000 |
| Outlook 2007 Client License | 5 | $109.95/$549,750 |
| Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard (x64) Edition License (+ 5 CAL's, 20 CAL's Total) | 4 | $999/$3,996 |
| Windows 2003 Server R2 Enterprise (x64) Edition License (+ 25 CAL's, 75 CAL's Total) | 3 | $3,999/$11,997 |
| Windows Server CAL's License (5000 CAL's needed minus 95 CAL's from server licenses) | 4905 | $39.95/$195,954.75 |
| Total Licensing Costs for Exchange 2007 | $1,116,692.70 |
| GroupWise 8 | Number of Licenses Required | MSRP Per Unit Cost/Total Required |
|---|---|---|
| GroupWise 8 Full License | 5000 | 143/$715,000 |
| Windows 2003 Server R2 Standard Edition License (+ 5 CAL's, 20 CAL's Total) | 5 | $999/$4,995 |
| Total Licensing Costs for GroupWise 8 on Windows servers | $719,995 |
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* Comparison is based on the costs associated with 5000 users. Prices are based on advertised MSRP prices and do not take into account any discount pricing.
Table 2: Exchange and GroupWise Software Costs Comparison
You can recognize even greater savings when you run your GroupWise system on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, lowering your total acquisition costs even more. (See Figure 2 and Table 3.)
| GroupWise 8 | Number of Licenses Required | MSRP Per Unit Cost/Total Required |
|---|---|---|
| GroupWise 8 Full License | 5000 | 143/$715,000 |
| SUSE 10 Server License | 5 | $0 |
| Total Licensing Costs for GroupWise 8 on Linux servers | $715,000 |
Table 3: Licensing Costs for GroupWise 8 on Linux
In addition to the savings you get by staying with GroupWise, you can recognize even more savings by taking advantage of the Novell Open Workgroup Suite, which includes Novell Open Enterprise Server, Novell GroupWise, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, OpenOffice.org and Novell ZENworks Suite. Depending on your implementation, you can save up to 70 percent in licensing costs compared to similar Microsoft workgroup offerings.
Easier than Ever to Save
There will always be those who will put the pressure on for a move to Exchange, ignoring the proven reliability, productivity and security offered by GroupWise. But even when that pressure is on, it’s hard to ignore the significant hardware and software cost savings that GroupWise delivers. With the many tough decisions that companies are having to make in order to save money, more than ever, staying with GroupWise should be one of the easiest decisions you have to make.
For a GroupWise system on Linux, ConsoleOne must already be installed before you set up your GroupWise system, and a separate installation process is required to update the ConsoleOne snap-ins on that machine.
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Figure 1
With the fewer number of servers required for GroupWise compared to Exchange, you can easily save more than $35,000 in hardware costs with GroupWise.
Figure 2
Compared to Exchange, GroupWise can simplify and lower your software licensing costs by about $300,000 or more.
