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
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
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 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.
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
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 662069-‐B21 0D1 Factory integrated 4 € 0.00 € 0.00 647901-‐B21 HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3L-‐10600R-‐9 Kit 16 € 468.00 € 7,488.00 647901-‐B21 0D1 Factory integrated 16 € 0.00 € 0.00 652564-‐B21 HP 300GB 6G SAS 10K 2.5in SC ENT HDD 8 € 410.00 € 3,280.00 652564-‐B21 0D1 Factory integrated 8 € 0.00 € 0.00 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 651281-‐B21 0D1 Factory integrated 4 € 0.00 € 0.00
TOTAL € 31,776.00
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 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
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
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
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
