[Start Geek Post]
Alright, so last week I've been checking out various webclients/collaboration tools for one of my projects. The four (Enterpise versions) that I've selected to compare were Open-Xchange (OX), SquirrelMail, Google Apps and Zimbra (aquired by Yahoo!). So using the following main criteria: Scalability, Security/Anti-virus/Spam, Ease of Integration with Outlook, Cost and of course User Friendliness (includes Admin functions as well), the following were my findings.
OX
Has an extensive list of capabilities (aside from email) such as:
- Calendaring for individual and group
- Meeting coordination
- Document sharing with automatic versioning control and file locking (great to keep track of collaborated documents)
- PM capabilities
- Forums
- PDA sync
For the IT nerd, OX uses the company's existing directory, is scalable and replicable (unlike Open LDAP server) and allows central admin and sharing of authentication data with other services. With all these capabilities at a much lower cost and good support, it makes me wonder why anyone would ever choose MS Exchange. Oh right...Corporate brainwashing and great Marketing. Of course, economics also comes in play with Adam Smith's invisibile hand.
The only real downside that I see with OX is the integration piece. It is not easy. Using a Connector is relatively simple, but for more flexibility and transparency, any med-large corporation would either go with replacing the the OX OLDAP directory with the company's existing directory or use a MetaDirectory to act as an abstraction layer. Might want to also note that OX only works with Linux Red Hat or Linux 4. To integrate with Outlook, OXtender will also be needed. Now the question is, are all these capabilities necessary? Probably not for the average user.
SquirrelMail
Now quite opposite of OX, SquirrelMail is quite...simple. Really. There is nothing inherently lacking with SM if all one is looking for is an email client. It comes with the standard anti-virus/spam filter with tons of plug-ins (which is great) for added functionality like calendars, project management etc. The program was designed with the Unix admin in mind and integration is a cinch, especially if you compare it to OX. It uses PHP as its programming language so it should be relatively easy to work with when it comes to customization. Although when it comes to aesthetics, it is lacking compared to its counterparts. Did I mention that it is completely free? Oh, and ne parle pas francais? SM has been translated into various languages like Arabic, French, Chinese, German and Spanish! And it's free. Yes, even the "Enterprise" version.
Google Apps
The new hot App...Google has come a long ways since its introduction of Google Search. Google Apps and OX have similar capabilities, just varying degrees. So for example, unlike OX, the Calendaring capability does not have the function of categorizing calendar events. The great thing about Google Apps is that one can customize the interface for each user and it is relatively simple to use, so very user friendly, love the drag and drop. Not only that, from an IT standpoint, there is no hardware or software to buy, install or maintain. Scalability and integration is super easy.
Now...the thing that deters me away from Google Apps (again from an enterprise point of view) is from a security standpoint. Google's products have to stay behind Google's firewalls. So for any big corporation, this raises a lot of compliance and security issues since hosting on a public infrastructure just might be a recipe for disaster. No matter what Google says. With that being said, Procter and Gamble uses Google Apps, although whether this is divisional or enterprise wide I am not sure. I can't see their bread and butter, the R&D department, using this though. Surprisingly, when it comes to cost, it is more than OX, but then again, it's Google vs. open source - the fact that one has to pay for open source is sometimes a wonder for me.
Zimbra
This is a full calendar/mail/document management solution, which Yahoo! has just acquired to play with the big boys (or girls) - Open-Xchange and Google Apps - within the whole collaboration Web 2.0 sphere. A trend sweeping the IT industry today. The cool thing about Zimbra is that it can integrate with a wide range of third party applications like Wikipedia so it is higly customizable with regards to adding capabilities for users. When it comes to User Friendliness, it's AJAX interface beats out the other category players. What can I say, I'm a sucker for drag and drop functions. When it comes to integration, it is simpler than OX but a little more difficult than Google Apps. Zimbra is open source...but it is debatable in some IT circles. To make note, some universities use Zimbra so on a scalability level, it has no problems. With regards to security/compliance/anti-virus, the application is installed within the company's firewall so it is as secure as the company's firewall. Filtering is standard for email and any types of exchanges that occur across the network.
It doesn't have as many capabilities as OX or Google Apps, and by the time one adds all the components that are desired, it might just make a small dent in the corporate budget. Then again, depending on what users need, it can be a cheaper option.
So...what's my verdict? SquirrelMail is too simple, OX is overkill, Google Apps might cost me millions in a lawsuit.
I choose Zimbra.
[/End Geek Post]
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