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Kerio MailServer 6.5 poised to replace Exchange

by Brett Terpstra Feb 20th 2008 at 3:30PM

Kerio Technologies announced version 6.5 of the Kerio MailServer -- 2 years in the making -- yesterday. We talked about version 6 recently, but this is their largest update yet and clearly shows their readiness to take a bite out of the Microsoft Exchange market. With version 6.5, Kerio is providing the groupware platform and tools needed to completely replace Exchange within a collaboration-centric organization.

The release is compatible with both server and workstation flavors of OS X with full support for Leopard, in addition to being fully Microsoft certified for Vista and Redhat certified for Linux compatibility. 6.5 also includes enhanced support for Entourage 2008, making full use of message flags and "out of office" messages which are synced on both mobile and workstation clients.

The biggest change of interest to Mac users is the addition of CalDAV support. Kerio users can look up information, share and subscribe to calendars and achieve 2-way sync whether they're on a Mac, an iPhone, a Palm or Windows Mobile handheld, a PC ... you get the idea. The server can provide a bridge between open and proprietary standards, making sure that you see the same data everywhere and allowing for smooth cross-platform interoperability.

The other major improvement, definitely of interest to users in multi-platform environments, is an upgrade to the Outlook Connector with a complete rewrite of its underlying database structure. It allows for easy data access, online and offline, with current and older versions of Outlook. And its full-text search capabilities search across messages, contacts and calendar events with support for Google Desktop search.

Not surprisingly, a release this big resulted in a pricing change. The standard package (10 users) now starts at $499 and adding additional users costs $20 per user. A version with integrated McAfee Anti-Virus for bi-directional scanning of all email starts at $599 and additional users are $24 each. Both versions include anti-spam, user management with authentication against Active Directory and Open Directory. Visit Kerio for more information.

Update: The US Apple Store is now carrying a base server (10 user) license and install media for Kerio MailServer with McAfee.



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Kerio Technologies announced version 6.5 of the Kerio MailServer -- 2 years in the making -- yesterday. We talked about version 6 recently,...
 

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18 Comments

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Gregory F

You can't believe how relieved i am right now.. installed Kerio after 5 Months of Exchange Hypertension.. (Store would not mount because of a virus) Something about rebuilding from the logs (Our exchange consultant got paid more than i did for three months and we still had problems)

Kerio has kicked in and is doing the job swell well.. i shall never have to study for my Exchange certification ever.

April 05 2008 at 6:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mojowrkn

As a consultant ive installed and run Kerio (6.0+) and Exchange 2007 they both have their place. That said Kerio is pretty damn good especially for organizations that cant afford the sysadmin overhead of an Exchange infrastructure.

Im looking at Kerio for a 1300 person organization.

March 27 2008 at 5:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ben

Congrats to Kerio on their new version. The features looks pretty good. I can't wait for the new iPhone to come out so I can sync my calendar and addresses with my Kerio.

March 07 2008 at 2:45 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mark.dayton

I installed Kerio at our company over 2 years ago now, and i can truly say it's been great. Spamfilter, Anti virus perfect. I installed the new offline connector last week and its been well worth the two year wait. Our laptop users can go back to Outlook and drop webmail now. Bill you should try the offline connector which uses port 80 or 443 for secure, most companies shouldn't have these blocked on their firewall should they!

Kerio for the win! Excellent help from support to.

February 21 2008 at 4:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Fabrizio

I evaluated Kerio 6 a little while back, but if you wanted to support blackberry devices the pricing got a bit out of hand for SMBs. For my clients an M$ SBS server with the SMB edition of the BES seemed a better match.

February 21 2008 at 6:44 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bcarney

Having to install a "connector" on 400 employees machine's using Outlook...

Having to explain to the CEO that when she's at a location behind a firewall that blocks IMAP she won't be able to access new email...

Standing in line at the unemployment office for replacing a working Exchange system for all this hassle ...

Priceless!

February 21 2008 at 6:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to bcarney's comment
Joon

have you even tried it yet? once the connector is installed (very easy), it automatically upgrades with everyone version.

a lot less time consuming than having to babysit an exchange server year-round!

February 21 2008 at 6:36 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jon Wise

Big Kerio fan, over here. All the functionality of Exchange with a fraction of the headache, cost and management.
Excellent work on 6.0, can't wait to get a hold of 6.5!

February 20 2008 at 5:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Randy

Kerio provides a nice solution with a short learning curve for existing Outlook users, Z is so bleeding edge, it costs more to teach people how to use it than you save by going open-source! Tell some CEO to drop Outlook for Z desktop... yeah, that'll make you keep your job.

MicroHoombra Collaboration Suite will be great!

February 20 2008 at 5:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robsky

I'll just use Zimbra, thank you very much.

February 20 2008 at 4:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
4 replies to robsky's comment
gss03

I'm sorry, but the last time I had to deal with Kerio I hated it. It was so bad we replaced that client's mail server with exchange.
Kerio just didn't cut it, even with a really small site as this one was!

February 20 2008 at 4:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to gss03's comment
moe

it was pretty bad before. you should check it out now. its improved a lot.

February 20 2008 at 5:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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