Filed under: Software, Productivity
Kerio MailServer 6.6 takes another swing at Exchange
Kerio has released version 6.6 of Kerio MailServer, another push forward in their campaign to take a bite out of the Microsoft Exchange market. We mentioned the ActiveSync capabilities of Kerio MailServer in July, and have noted the expanding capabilities of the 6.x releases as an increasingly viable alternative to Exchange. Version 6.6 encompasses a variety of improvements, including expanded features for mobile and iPhone users. Two items which stand out prominently are the addition of resource scheduling and the Exchange Migration Tool.
Resource scheduling allows shared company resources -- anything from conference rooms and projectors to company cars -- to be scheduled and reserved using MailServer's shared calendars. Access controls can be specified by administrators for each resource, and a "Reservation Manager" can be assigned with add/edit/delete priveleges. Mac users can access the resource schedules through Entourage or iCal (although Kerio is less thrilled with the inelegance of the iCal solution and its LDAP dependencies). PC users have access through Outlook, and everyone can schedule resources through Kerio Webmail, which is fully compatible with Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer.
The Kerio Exchange Migration Tool is provided free of charge to Kerio 6.6 users, and is designed to take a lot of the fear out of making a transition from Exchange to Kerio. It runs on a Windows box (works fine with virtualization) between the Exchange and Kerio servers and, in about 4 clicks, transfers all of the existing Exchange data, users, etc. to Kerio MailServer.
Additional features in 6.6 include improved iPhone support (with HTML email and attachment viewing), and an iCal auto-configuration script which is generated by the server for each Mac user. The auto-configuration sets up CalDAV and LDAP to work with Kerio, handling all of the details without requiring the user to know anything more than their own machine's administrative password and their Kerio MailServer login information.
The new version maintains the same prices, starting at $499 for 10 users ($599 with McAfee Anti-Virus) and add-on packages for additional users starting at $120 (+5 users). Current users with a subscription can, as far as I can tell, upgrade for free.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy said 8:49PM on 10-21-2008
Is this what Apple runs internally? If not, what do they use? Exchange?
Reply
tony said 1:37AM on 10-22-2008
zimbra is better
Kai said 2:06AM on 10-22-2008
You can't compare Exchange with Kerio, Exchange is much more than a mailserver. Exchange is part of the application services with Microsoft, tightly integrated with Office family products (including Sharepoint)
Reply
Howie Isaacks said 9:47PM on 10-22-2008
I'm a Kerio Mail Server administrator and I can tell you that Kerio is far less of a headache than Exchange. For everything that Exchange does, there is a better, non-Microsoft solution. Kerio Mail Server saves businesses thousands of dollars on licensing and thousands more for not having to have dedicated support staff JUST for Exchange. Unless you have administrated a Kerio server, you really have no room to make the comparison. I have managed Exchange servers. Microsoft has no idea how to build software that is easy to use and easy to maintain. Those concepts are foreign to them.
Jash Sayani said 4:15AM on 10-22-2008
Is there a way to setup Exchange Mail Server on the Mac...?
Running Leopard. Some tool that might help in easy Exchange configuration would be nice. Something like iVPN for VPN setup config.
Reply
Jorgen Olsson said 11:10AM on 10-22-2008
I have been using Kerio MailServer for a long time, and I run this new version on a small network. It is very easy to administer and it is a dream when it comes to support for both iCal and Outlook - so that my users can schedule meetings with their favorit calendar and me not having to handle MS Exchange.
The iPhone and Windows Mobile support is great - even supports remote wipe if a mobile is lost.
I highly recommend this product!
Reply
Jonathan Wise said 1:19PM on 10-22-2008
Agreed. Kerio is an outstanding product -- on any platform.
Paul said 4:00PM on 10-22-2008
Could you use this for JUST contacts/calendaring--e.g., not use the mail portion of it? we have mail hosted offsite and are happy with it, but are looking for some robust contact/calendar solution (and Now sucks until Nighthawk comes out). Zimbra is definitely nice, but it's expensive.
Thoughts?
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Kent Knudsen said 7:25PM on 10-22-2008
I don't like Exchange and have looked at Zimbra and Scalix.
Some companies will demand to use security like HTTPS over RPC between mail-client and server. And Exchange is to my knowledge the only one to provide it.
Can Kerio do something like MS' proprietory solution of HTTPS over RPC?
Regards
Kent Knudsen
Reply
Bill said 3:56PM on 10-23-2008
Kerio doesn't need HTTP over RPC or VPN to secure remote Outlook connections. It uses SSL. Microsoft needed it because it was a limitation of the MAPI protocol. I'm just glad I don't have to set it up that nightmare anymore once I moved to Kerio.
Kerio just does a lot of things easier and better. Heck it even has more features than Exchange. Exchange should be compared to Kerio not the other way around. Thanks for the heads up about the iCal auto-config. Exchange can't do that. Or sync iPhone with iCal over the air.