Review: E-Mail For Tight Budgets

With Microsoft Exchange claiming the lion's share of the e-mail server market, it's easy to forget that there are other products out there that can do just as much for much less. Exchange can appear intimidating to SMBs, namely for its price, but also for the application's intricacies. But even small businesses need the convenience and flexibility of group calendars and secure e-mail. Gordano Messaging Suite (GMS) runs to the rescue as a cross-platform, robust system that rivals Exchange in features and comes at a low price.

For this review, CRN Test Center engineers deployed the full GMS solution, including secure e-mail, instant and SMS messaging, personal and shared calendars, antivirus and antispam scanning and archiving. The suite was installed on a VMware server running on a Compaq Athlon 64 3800 with 1 Gbyte of RAM.

Gordano promises two things: first, that GMS is platform-independent, and second, that it does not require a brand-new box with the newest and the best hardware components. To test the first claim, engineers installed Linux, selecting Ubuntu 6.10 rather than commercial packages such as SUSE, Red Hat or Xandos. Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) has glibc-2.4, and engineers requested appropriate build files. The Compaq desktop used was repurposed to test the second premise.

GMS consists of the base mail system, GMS Mail, GMS WebMail, Calendar, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, Instant Messenger, Mobile Gateway, an accessory pack, a communication server and a list server.

GMS Mail offers extended POP3 and IMAP4 commands and advanced session management tools. GMS WebMail lets users connect to the system through a Web browser instead of an e-mail client. The interface varies with usage, beginning with a full-featured one, for example, that works just like Outlook to a limited one for users on restricted bandwidth or handheld devices. Calendar allows users to set appointments and to view and manage other users' schedules, depending on access rights. Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam scan messages to detect and delete malware. Viruses can be returned to sender, rejected, cleaned or quarantined. Spam messages can be rejected, accepted or deleted (so the user never sees them), or quarantined. Attachments can also be blocked. Instant Messenger and Mobile Gateway allow users to send IM and SMS messages. The Communication Server, List Server and accessory pack offer list management and database tools as well as sample codes and interfaces. The base mail system can support a variety of mail protocols and provides Groupware support for Outlook 2002, XP and 2003. HTTP/FTP Proxy Internet services include SSL, HTTP and HTTPS on the domain or user level.

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