- The economical solution to having an Exchange Server on-site is to outsource the service. Exchange Server is generally cost-prohibitive to small businesses, but a number of email services have seized on the opportunity by providing Hosted Exchange. This means that the server is hosted by a third party, while small business users get the advantage of shared calendaring, collaborative email and contacts and Outlook Web Access. Rackspace, Intermedia and SherWeb are the largest providers of Hosted Exchange.
- Novell GroupWise is the largest market competitor to Exchange Server. GroupWise offers a large-scale solution (5,000+ users) to universities and corporations. GroupWise offers the same features of Exchange Server, plus an instant message client and web client. GroupWise requires a dedicated server to be hosted by the company and has its own mobile device licensing for Blackberry, iPhone and other smart phones.
- MDaemon is one of the cheapest-hosted solutions for communications at approximately $15 per user (based on 100 users). MDaemon is comparable to Exchange in features, with email services, shared calendaring and interactivity among users. It is built for small- to medium-sized companies, with security support and Microsoft Outlook integration. Its advantage is its ability to be configured easily across the enterprise.
