local email server vs cloud email service - ibs

Prepared on 15/04/2013 by: Avgoustinos Constantinides IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd R&D Department

Local email server VS Cloud email service

A real scenario


Contents 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 3

2. In-house email solution design ....................................................................................................... 3

3. Problem ........................................................................................................................................... 5

4. New infrastructure .......................................................................................................................... 5

a. Time of completion ..................................................................................................................... 6

b. Cost Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 7

5. Cloud Email Solution ....................................................................................................................... 8

a. Time of completion ..................................................................................................................... 9

b. Cost Analysis ..............................................................................................................................10

6. Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................11


1. Introduction

The following white paper demonstrates the benefits of a cloud email service versus an in-

house email server. The scenario below has already been applied to one of our clients with

200 users spread in several offices worldwide. Company names are not mentioned for

obvious reasons.

The initial design and setup of the in-house mail server was based on the highest standards

and high-availability scenarios due the business requirements of the company. Based on

this, our client had very high standards in relation with the emails and this is what office365

delivered to them with the implementation and maintenance carried-out by IBSAC

Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd.

Office365 is the cloud solution of Microsoft which offers virtually anywhere access to

familiar office tools, plus enterprise-grade email, conferencing and more IT services. Based

on the plan that you will choose, the corresponding services will be provided to you through

the Microsoft cloud. IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd is fully certified from Microsoft

to sell, configure and maintain office365. You can find more information at

http://www.office365.com or contact with us at [email protected].

2. In-house email solution design

Email servers were located on a privately owned data centre in Cyprus at the headquarters

of the company with 6 servers whose job was to deliver full email services to all the

employees worldwide. Below is the design of in-house email system.

a. ISA Server: ISA stands for Internet Services and Acceleration server. This

server provides all users with web access, including Outlook web access and

http://www.office365.com/

mailto:[email protected]


emails, calendars, contacts and tasks on their mobile devices. When a

request is coming outside from the network that needs to access any emails,

this server checks if is a trusted request based on the certificate of each

device and provides access.

b. Anti-spam server: This server is responsible for all the filtering of the emails

received. Every single email is scanned by the anti-spam software and also by

the antivirus of this server in order to ensure maximum security and

avoidance of viruses through emails.

c. Exchange Servers: In the above scenario, 4 exchange servers were in place in

order to ensure high-availability in case of a hardware failure. The front mail

servers are responsible for receiving emails and sending them to the back

end servers which, on their turn, are responsible for storing the emails on the

correct mailbox.

Existing mail solution yearly expenses

Product Description Quantity Total cost

per year

Anti-spam and antivirus The specific software is

responsible for the filtering of all

incoming emails for spam and

viruses.

1 3220.00

Antivirus for servers Each server needs antivirus for

high security standards

6 360.00

Server power consumption This is an approximate cost for

aforementioned servers for one

year. A/C consumption not

included. (including the

Blackberry server in order to be

able to serve Blackberry devices)

7 1680.00

Email backups costs Monthly costs of 150 Euros for

new tapes in order to have

12 1800.00


monthly backups for all the

emails of the company.

Hardware running costs This amount is based on the

expenses during 2012 in relation

with hardware replacements of

aforementioned servers

6 3000.00

TOTAL 10060.00

3. Problem

At the beginning of 2013, their mailing system was 5 years old since it was installed

and configured during the beginning of 2008. Based on our experience and also on

several articles, server hardware should be replaced in the period between 3 and 5 years

since the operational expenses growing significantly after the third year of their use.

Also, when the hardware is more than 3 years old, it is possible to have downtimes due

to hardware failures no matter what maintenance is followed. Some CIOs declare that

“if organizations wait more than 36 months, they may miss out on productivity-boosting

innovations from new technologies or risk increased upkeep costs if support and service

agreements lapse” (full article at

http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article/2012/06/when-should-enterprises-replace-

servers).

Based on this and in order to avoid any unplanned downtime, the company needs to

change/upgrade the entire emailing infrastructure. There are two ways of doing this.

Reinstall a new infrastructure or transfer everything in the cloud. Below both solutions

are demonstrated including advantages, disadvantages, costs, time of completion,

design, etc.

4. New infrastructure

The emailing system is working with Microsoft Exchange 2007. Lately, Microsoft

Exchange 2013 was released and in case they will proceed with a new in-house solution,

this is the version that they need to purchase.

The following figure demonstrates the high-availability design for Exchange server 2013.

http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article/2012/06/when-should-enterprises-replace-servers

http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article/2012/06/when-should-enterprises-replace-servers


Note that in this case and due to the criticality of the email system, clusters

are used in order to ensure high availability and business continuity for the company.

Using the above scenario high availability is guaranteed since in case there is a

failure on two servers (one from the front and one from the back), the system will

still work properly.

The main advantage of in-house email system is that all data is stored locally.

This is very important for the company since they are working with confidential data

and data can be accessed only by authorized employees.

However, the disadvantages of the in-house solution are the following:

The costs are higher since a significant investment is required from day one.

The running expenses are higher than the cloud solution because of the power

consumption, administration and maintenance.

Currently there is no disaster recovery site or a business continuity plan which

ensures no guarantees that in case of failure or disaster the mailing system will

be up and running. In order to develop and maintain a business continuity plan

with a disaster recovery site, a significant investment is required.

The time of configuration and setup is much longer than the cloud solution.

a. Time of completion

Due to the complexity of the email system, a substantial amount of time is required

for the setup and configuration. Very roughly, we estimated that it will take up to six

months to install and configure the new in-house mailing system. Since Exchange

2007 does not support online upgrade with Exchange 2013, we will need to get new


hardware, install the new email system and configure it. After finishing with the

entire configuration and testing, all the data will be transferred to the new system.

b. Cost Analysis

The following table shows in approximate numbers the costs for purchasing new

hardware, software and the required services for the new email system.

Software Part No. Description Units Unit price Total

P73-05599 Windows Server Standard Edition 4 € 651.00 € 2,604.00

312-03037 Exchange Server Standard edition 4 € 542.00 € 2,168.00

R18-01855 Windows Server User Licenses (CALs) 200 € 26.00 € 5,200.00

381-02257 Exchange Server User Licenses (CALs) 200 € 59.00 € 11,800.00

TOTAL € 21,772.00

Hardware Part No. Description Units Unit price Total

641016-B21 HP BL460c Gen8 10Gb FLB CTO Blade 4 € 2,847.00 € 11,388.00

641016-B21 0D1 Factory integrated 4 € 0.00 € 0.00

662069-L21 HP BL460c Gen8 E5-2620 FIO Kit 4 € 702.00 € 2,808.00

662069-B21 HP BL460c Gen8 E5-2620 Kit 4 € 702.00 € 2,808.00


647901-B21 HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3L-10600R-9 Kit 16 € 468.00 € 7,488.00


652564-B21 HP 300GB 6G SAS 10K 2.5in SC ENT HDD 8 € 410.00 € 3,280.00


684212-B21 HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2P 554FLB FIO Adptr 4 € 13.00 € 52.00

651281-B21 HP Fibre Channel 8Gb QMH2572 Adptr 4 € 988.00 € 3,952.00


TOTAL € 31,776.00

Services No

. Description Unit

s Unit price Total

1 Upgrading of existing systems to be able to migrate to new system 4 € 600.00 € 2,400.00

2 Firmware upgrades 1 € 800.00 € 800.00

3 Exchange 2013 installation and setup 4 € 800.00 € 3,200.00

4 Testing of new Exchange 4 € 300.00 € 1,200.00

5 Migration (non-business hours) 4 € 800.00 € 3,200.00

TOTAL € 10,800.00


5. Cloud Email Solution

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources that are delivered as a

service over a network. The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol

used as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams.

There are many types of cloud computing and services. However, the cloud service

we are introducing in this paper is the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) which can offer a

complete email solution.

The above service is provided directly from Microsoft and is called office365.

IBSAC Intelligent Business Solutions Ltd is fully certified to sell, implement and

maintain office365 for any size and kind of organization.

The following figure demonstrates how the email system will look like if we

deploy cloud email services for the company. Note that the scenario is much more

simplified than the in-house solution since all the hardware is located in the “cloud”.

The above picture illustrates how the cloud email service works. Users are

behind the corporate security systems and an encrypted connection is established

through the cloud. The difference with the in-house scenario is that users are

receiving emails from the mail servers of Microsoft instead of the servers located at

our data centre.

The aforementioned scenario has several advantages such as:

i. Industry-leading, always up-to-date antivirus and anti-spam solutions

ii. Disaster recovery though continuously-replicated, geo-redundant

data centres that are third-party certified to international standards


iii. Robust management tools that keep IT administrators in control of

user permissions, distribution lists and security policies similar to a

sophisticated on-premises deployment

iv. Familiar end-user experience with the same Microsoft Outlook and

Office programs you know, ensuring a minimal learning curve

v. Interoperable with most devices, including PCs, Macs, BlackBerry,

Android, Windows Phone and iPhones as well as all major web

browsers

vi. Large 25 GB mailboxes and the ability to send attachments up to 25

MB

vii. 24/7, IT-level support over the phone, the web or email

viii. Financially-backed, guaranteed 99.9% uptime Service Level

Agreement

ix. Latest technology without having to migrate or upgrade

Even though there are no actual disadvantages in general, from our point of view

with regard to the specific company, the disadvantage might be that all the email

communication of the company will “go through” and stored at Microsoft’s data

centres. Also, someone might say that the company will not be able to send and

receive emails in case there is a problem with the Internet but even with the in-

house scenario, emails will not work in case of Internet failure.

a. Time of completion

Due to the high availability features we have and also the large amount of emails

(data) that mail servers hold, the transition to the cloud will be complex also.

However, the transfer of the email services from in-house to the cloud will be much

faster since it can be done during business hours and while the company is working

normally. We are estimating the time of transfer to be approximately 2 months.


b. Cost Analysis

The following table shows in approximate numbers the costs services of transferring

emails to the cloud.

Office365 - Exchange Online

No. Description Units Units Price Months Total

1 Office 365 Exchange online subscription 190 € 3.30 12 € 7,524.00

2 Office 365 Plan E1 (Supports video conferencing) 10 € 6.50 12 € 780.00

TOTAL € 8,304.00

Services No. Description Units Unit price Total

1 Upgrading of existing systems to be able to migrate to new system 4 € 600.00 € 2,400.00

2

Domain controllers configuration for hybrid cloud ( 2 X Limassol, 1 X Nicosia, 1 X Moscow) 4 € 800.00 € 3,200.00

3

Setup and configuration of Exchange server, antivirus and antispam in Office365 1 € 4,000.00 € 4,000.00

4 Migration 4 € 400.00 € 1,600.00

TOTAL € 11,200.00


6. Conclusions

As the above pages demonstrate, a cloud solution is very cost effective for the

company. The following table shows a comparison of both solutions in relation with

costs for the first five years.

Year In-House Cloud Savings

1st Year € 74,168.00 € 19,504.00 € 54,664.00

2nd Year € 9,820.00 € 8,304.00 € 1,516.00

3rd Year € 9,820.00 € 8,304.00 € 1,516.00

4th Year € 9,820.00 € 8,304.00 € 1,516.00

5th Year € 9,820.00 € 8,304.00 € 1,516.00

TOTAL Savings in 5 years €60,728.00

*In the above costs we did NOT include any air-conditioning expenses


The following graphs also showing a comparison of both solutions for the first five years.

In-House VS Cloud Solution (5 years costs)

Total Savings per year (5 years)

Based on the above, the company will have savings of 60728 Euros for the first five

years with the cloud solution. Also, with the cloud solution we do not need to

upgrade again the email system since this work is carried out by Microsoft and it is

included in monthly charges.

€ 0.00

€ 10,000.00

€ 20,000.00

€ 30,000.00

€ 40,000.00

€ 50,000.00

€ 60,000.00

€ 70,000.00

€ 80,000.00

1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year 5th Year

€ 74,168.00

€ 9,820.00 € 9,820.00 € 9,820.00 € 9,820.00

€ 19,504.00

€ 8,304.00 € 8,304.00 € 8,304.00 € 8,304.00

In-House

Cloud

€ 0.00

€ 10,000.00

€ 20,000.00

€ 30,000.00

€ 40,000.00

€ 50,000.00

€ 60,000.00

1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year 5th Year

€ 54,664.00

€ 1,516.00 € 1,516.00 € 1,516.00 € 1,516.00

Savings

local email server vs cloud email service - ibs

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