InformationWeek

June 21, 1999

E-Mail Showdown

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sidebar: E-Mail Systems Test Methods

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InternetWeek Standards-Based E-Mail For The Enterprise

InternetWeek E-Mail Has Become A Mission-Critical App

Windows The Dangers of E-Mail

Windows E-Mail from Any App

CommuniGate Pro includes a basic database server with a fixed schema and an LDAP connector to allow that database to be searched by any LDAP client. Users have the ability to change the public information in that directory by browsing to the E-mail server's TCP/IP port and logging on.

If the CommuniGate server is hosted on a Windows NT server, the administrator can set the server to use the NT password for that user. However, the user account must still be created in the CommuniGate Pro database. This provides a centralized way for users to manage their passwords.

Want to offer an open E-mail system, such as Hotmail or Yahoo? An option (turned off by default) lets users create their own accounts at will, using a predefined account template by browsing to the E-mail server.

At present, CommuniGate Pro can use only its included E-mail directory. However, the scanty documentation hints that a connector to external databases is under construction.

As has been implied, CommuniGate Pro is very Web-centric--it offers Web-based access to E-mail (in addition to POP3 and IMAP4 access). It provides a basic, HTML-only Web site for each registered user. It supports mailing lists and shared mailboxes to improve group productivity. Antispam features are also present: E-mail may be blocked from specific users or domains or blocked based on text filters. SMTP mail-relaying capability can be restricted.

What's missing? Well, there's no SNMP management, no fax or paging gateways, and no hooks or capabilities for virus scanning.

CommuniGate Pro offers a good value: the first rung on the license ladder is $499 for 50 mailboxes, and the price drops sharply at the 200-user level and above.

Conclusion
When we added up the grades, we were astonished: We nearly had a three-way tie for best of breed, because three of the products are first rate. None has all the features we were seeking, but their strengths and weaknesses nearly canceled out.

The overall winner is Isocor's N-Plex Global 2.21. It offers strong local and remote administration capabilities, including SNMP MIBs. We were slightly disappointed that Web mail access was an option--but for $1 per mailbox, it might as well have been standard. We were also impressed that server-side virus scanning was offered as an option; none of the other offerings provided that choice.

Stalker's CommuniGate Pro 3.0b6 came in second. This strong contender offered incredibly easy installation and a very powerful Web-based administrative console. If the product included printed documentation, it would have taken first-prize honors.

Also close to winning was Ipswitch's IMail 5.0, which provided good installation, fine documentation, and a broad collection of features, including a paging gateway and optional outbound faxing. IMail disappointed in its limited remote-access capabilities.

The fourth product, Qualcomm's Eudora WorldMail 2.0, didn't match the high standards set by the other three. Without such basics as spam filtering or Web E-mail access, it doesn't provide features that an E-mail server should offer.

Alan Zeichick is principal analyst with Camden Associates and is a contributing editor to InternetWeek. He can be reached at zeichick@camdenassociates.com.

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