The Real ROI of Exchange

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The Real ROI of Exchange

• Paul Robichaux
• Partner
• 3sharp LLC
• paulr_at_3sharp.com

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Overview

• The Dimensions of ROI.
• Key Exchange 2003 Features.
• Whats the Real Deal?

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The Dimensions of ROI

• ROI is multi-dimensional
• Theres the investment itself
• Initial investment (licenses, hardware,
  training)
• Ongoing investment (including maintenance,
  support)
• Platform/infrastructure investment
• What comes in the box? (Training, add-ons,
  support)
• And then theres the return
• / size of return (wed like this to be gt 100)
• Speed of return
• Time to deploy
• Time to realize productivity increases
• Time to integrate as platform
• Additional functionality
• Process improvement / leverage

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Maximizing ROI

• Maximization is a complex problem
• What should you optimize for?
• Do you have to spend money to make money?
• Can you trust vendors, ISVs, analysts, the
  press for good advice?
• Were not exploring those questions here!

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Whos Using What?

• Were currently using Exchange 5.5
• Were currently using Exchange 2000
• Were currently using Exchange 2003
• Were using another messaging system

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Key Exchange 2003 Benefits

• Improved tools for Exchange 5.5 upgrades
• More improvements coming in Service Pack 1
• Lowers cost, risk of upgrades
• Better support for HA / DR
• Eight-node clustering (including majority node
  set)
• Geoclustering support
• Support for FC and iSCSI SANs, some NAS devices
• Point-in-time copies with Volume Shadowcopy
  Service (VSS)
• Recovery Storage Group allows quick restore to
  dissimilar machines

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Key Exchange 2003 Benefits

• Better performance
• Faster cluster failovers
• RPC packing / shaping (with Outlook 2003)
• Core transport performance improvements
• Better mobility support
• Seamless sync / wireless access for Pocket PC
  devices
• Outlook Mobile Access (OMA) for WAP/xHTML devices
• Very rich Outlook Web Access client
• RPC over HTTP for easier Outlook access
• Better security
• Greatly improved spam filtering
• Support for cross-forest Kerberos
• Support for IPsec in clusters
• Improved hooks for AV scanners
• Includes CALs for Outlook 2003
• And Entourage 2004!

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Key Exchange 2003 Benefits

• Better manageability
• Highly scriptable
• Better queue viewing and management (plus a
  queuing API)
• More control over replication and public folder
  behavior
• Support for using Exchange from managed .NET code
• Better together
• Site consolidation powered by Outlook
  2003/Exchange 2003
• Rich overlap between SharePoint, Live
  Communications Server, Exchange
• Presence everywhere
• Embed Exchange data in portal pages via Exchange
  web parts
• Expose RSS, XML data from Exchange store to
  SharePoint
• Rich ecosystem / community
• Wide range of partners and ISVs
• More choices for antivirus, anti spam, security,
  backup/restore, content management, compliance,
  archiving

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Do These Features Matter?

• All vendors love laundry lists
• Key features are ones that improve ROI
• By making it happen faster
• By providing a better total return
• Separate technical coolness from actual
  quantifiable benefit

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What Microsoft Says About Exchange 2003

• Highest uptake rate of any Exchange version
• 330K seats deployed by official launch
• X seats currently deployed
• Whats so great about Exchange 2003?
• Lower total hardware cost
• Higher productivity for employees
• Higher productivity for mobile users
• Reduced administrative costs
• Reduced downtime
• Lets see whether these claims hold water

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Lower Total Hardware Cost

• VERDICT Yes, for most customers
• WHY?
• Extremely powerful site consolidation can lead to
  drastic reduction in server counts
• Individual servers may be larger and cost more to
  acquire
• Requires careful analysis of impact on DR,
  bandwidth usage, client access
• ROI Impact medium-term

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Higher Productivity for Employees

• VERDICT Yes
• WHY?
• Outlook 2003 cached mode
• Support for RPC over HTTPS
• Multi-tier spam filtering
• OWA provides rich experience when Outlook not
  available
• ROI Impact immediate
• Requires client deployment
• No additional licensing required for Outlook 2003

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Higher Productivity for Mobile Users

• VERDICT Maybe
• WHY?
• OWA, RPC-over-HTTPS on the desktop two thumbs up
• Exchange ActiveSync, Always-Up-To-Date great
  but
• They require PocketPC / Windows Mobile devices
• Other devices require their own separate
  solutions
• Outlook Mobile Access provides basic
  functionality
• Useful for small-form-factor phone devices
• Not a very rich experience
• ROI Impact depends
• Road warriors will immediately benefit from OWA
  and Outlook 2003 (RPC and caching) changes
• Orgs with many deployed mobile devices will see
  more immediate return for wireless technology
• Jury is still out on ROI of combined Exchange
  2003 wireless deployments

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Reduced Administrative Costs

• VERDICT Yes
• WHY?
• Better built-in management tools (new queue
  viewer, Mailbox Recovery Center)
• Better interfaces to external management tools
  (MOM, NetIQ, OpenView, etc)
• Better scripting and control interfaces (CDOEXM,
  WMI, MXO)
• Site and server consolidation ? fewer servers ?
  lower costs
• Better DR capability (VSS copies, recovery
  storage groups)
• ROI Impact immediate
• For maximum impact, make sure your administrators
  get training

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Reduced Downtime

• VERDICT Yes and no
• WHY?
• Pro more robust than the already-stable earlier
  versions
• Pro Faster recovery through VSS and RSGs
• Pro Better clustering (including asymmetric
  clustering)
• Pro supports geoclustering, iSCSI, NAS devices
• Neutral largest cause of downtime is still
  administrator error!
• Con Consolidation ? bigger servers ? possibly
  longer recovery times
• ROI Impact Medium- to long-term
• Best DR story requires deployment of VSS with
  appropriate HW
• Maintenance costs add up over time
• For maximum impact, train your admins

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What Else is Microsoft Saying?

• Exchange part of a comprehensive platform
• LiveComm Server for IM / presence, with
  SIMPLE/SIP support
• SharePoint Portal Services
• .NET Framework as app dev environment
• Superior client performance, functionality,
  usability
• Platform delivers better integration
• IM-enable your LOB applications
• Use Exchange and LCS transports instead of
  rolling your own
• Centralize directory management
• Maintain legal compliance where necessary across
  lots of apps, not just e-mail
• Better platform value proposition
• ISVs developing some compelling stories
• For religious arguments, see another session

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Whats Microsoft Not Saying?

• Acquisition cost of server / client licenses
• Software Assurance (SA) allows spreading cost
  over 3 year period
• Bundled support, maintenance, add-on products
• Difficult to estimate platform licensing cost
• Outlook 2003 CAL included with Exchange CAL
• Interplay between Exchange Edge Services and
  Exchange
• Edge to offer robust set of perimeter
  security/filtering tools
• No word yet on how it will be licensed

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What About Good Enough Mail?

• To improve ROI, you can spend less
• Emergence of just good enough mail systems
• Promise lower messaging TCO, often on Linux
• But you get less, too!
• Security, scalability, robustness, continuance
• Ecosystem, support (vendor and ISV), platform
  functionality
• Most efforts targeted at 5.5 customers
• Exchange 2000 customers dont want to move
  backwards
• Lots of FUD surrounding Active Directory

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What About Good Enough Mail?

• Dont believe the hype
• Carefully consider whether good enough is good
  enough for you
• Dispassionately evaluate vendor claims for
• License costs (including OS, maintenance,
  support)
• Hardware costs (and server counts)
• Cost of maintaining your service-level agreements
• Cost of migration
• Microsofts claim is that these systems generally
  dont end up saving any money
• No comprehensive public data exists to back this
  up
• Anecdotal experience suggests that this is
  probably true in many cases
• Experience suggests that these trade
  functionality for cost

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The Bottom Line

• Exchange 2003 is a valuable upgrade
• Terrific opportunity for service, server, site
  consolidation
• Vastly improved DR story (particularly with VSS)
• Users love Outlook 2003 combination
• Specific ROI in your organization depends on
• What youre running now
• What architectural/infrastructure changes you
  need to make
• How, when you deploy client changes

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Questions?