Review: Small-Business Server Bake-Off

Winner: Xandros
2nd: Microsoft
3rd: Nitix, Novell (Tie)

All of the products covered here have a bundled groupware application. Microsoft includes its Exchange Server 2003 and fully integrates the server into the network operating system. Microsoft supports group scheduling, e-mail, task management and Web mail.

Novell relies on GroupWise, which offers all of the key features needed by a typical small business, including group scheduling, e-mail and task management. However, administration of the product can be complex.

Nitix went a different route, bundling ExchangeIT Groupware, which offers Microsoft Exchange compatibility. ExchangeIT is tightly woven into the operating system, easing client deployment, management and backup. ExchangeIT proves easy to use and will quickly become a favorite.

Xandros won this contest by going the third-party route for its integrated groupware offering, choosing Scalix as the bundled groupware offering. Scalix offers compatibility with Microsoft products and is designed to be simple to use and manage. The product offers an excellent Web mail interface built with AJAX and full support for Microsoft Outlook. Xandros has done a good job of integrating Scalix into Xandros server.

INTRANET

Winner: Microsoft
2nd: Nitix
3rd: Xandros
4th: Novell

Bringing information to the in-house employee can prove to be almost as important as serving the external customer. Microsoft has recognized that need and won this bake-off by bundling SharePoint into SBS 2003. SharePoint allows users to share documents, create bulletins and disseminate internal communications, all via Internet Explorer. What's more, SharePoint offers integration hooks into Microsoft Office, which makes the product's capabilities that much more accessible.

Nitix, Novell and Xandros don't offer that level of workflow integration. That said, each of the products still has their strengths and the framework to build a similar capability. Take Nitix, for instance. By combining the integrated Web server with the capabilities of ExchangeIT and the product's support for Web mail and Web scheduling, integrators could offer something along the lines of SharePoint.

With Novell, users will have to rely on the capabilities offered by GroupWise to handle most collaboration tasks. Luckily, the product is up to the challenge. Xandros' inclusion of Scalix brings a powerful AJAX-based client applet to most any Web browser. In theory, Scalix offers much of the capability offered by SharePoint or even a typical intranet presence.