Summary:
Microsoft Exchange is one of the most popular e-mail messaging systems in the world. This article offers a brief overview of Exchange, including how it works, what type of businesses may want to use it, and a few pros and cons. The article is easy-to-read while also delving slightly into the technical aspects of the system.

(Commonly used IT acronyms and capitalization used per customer request.)

Details or Sample:
An Overview of Microsoft Exchange: What is it and Who Needs it
WHAT IS IT?
Microsoft Exchange is one of the most popular e-mail messaging systems in the world. It is used successfully by thousands of businesses, small and large. Its features include e-mail, calendars, meeting scheduling with free and busy time denotations and task lists. It allows for public folder filing sharing. It can translate voicemails into e-mail. It allows a business to employ its own internal e-mail system, one that also accepts e-mail from outside sources.
Microsoft Exchange runs on a modular system of five server roles: edge transport, hub transport, mailbox, client access and unified messaging. Every role but the edge transport role can coexist on the same server.
The mailbox role maintains the mailboxes and serves up the mailboxes to the clients. The client access role interfaces with the mailbox server. The hub transport role moves messages between Exchange servers.
The edge transport role accepts and sends e-mail into and out of the business. It runs on a separate server for security purposes. It can oversee spam filtering and anti-virus features.
Unified messaging offers one central platform to handle e-mail as well as telephone and voicemail systems. Users can call-in by telephone and it will playback voicemails as well as electronically read out loud e-mail and check calendar items.
Users retrieve their mail using Microsoft Outlook on the PC or Entourage on the Mac. Other access methods include using other POP3 or IMAP mail clients, or a built-in webmail interface. To make use of the free and busy time scheduling feature, however, either Microsoft Outlook for the PC or Entourage on the Mac, or a built-in webmail interface, must be employed.
WHO NEEDS IT?
Businesses looking for an in-house e-mail and voicemail messaging system are an ideal fit. Microsoft Exchange is very scalable and can be used by a business with very few employees or one with thousands of employees. It can run on one server or many.
Some consider it the best e-mail messaging system for small businesses. It’s cost effective and it’s all inclusive. If a business has an Exchange server it can run e-mail, calendaring and voicemail all in one. That works well for businesses that want their own telephone system and to keep its information technology in-house.
Businesses with satellite offices may find Exchange especially useful to keep employees connected and communicating. Depending on a business’s infrastructure and connectivity between offices, it can have one exchange server or one at each location.
It is not overly difficult to install or administer. Microsoft Exchange is a good consideration for a small business without an information technology staff. However, a part-time administrator may be needed to set up a back-up and disaster recovery system.
It is possible to train a couple of non-information technology people to add and manage accounts on the system. What’s more, Microsoft Exchange is well known enough that if a business without an IT staff experiences problems it can hire people at a reasonable price to fix it.
Microsoft Exchange is an ideal fit for businesses already using Windows, as it is designed to mesh with Active Directory, which is the central repository for a Windows system’s information. Using Exchange in a Windows environmental utilizes a single point to administer accounts.
In fact, installing and using Microsoft Exchange 2007 and beyond now requires Active Directory.
If a business already has users configured with Active Directory, as is the case with all Windows environments, then Exchange uses Active Directory to manage all the accounts. This bypasses the need to create a separate database of users, which one may need to do with other e-mail systems.
Using Active Directory, administrators can use Exchange to create and delete accounts, handle user privileges and manage passwords. Also, users can streamline their Windows and e-mail passwords, needing to remember only one instead of several.
PROS AND CONS
When Microsoft Exchange runs, it runs well, and oversight is minimal, providing back-up measures are in place. While there are free e-mail systems available, they are not nearly as robust and they don’t have Exchange’s features.
Microsoft does have some really hard to understand licensing models. Upgrades, IT support and software insurance can add costs. If a small business is looking to save costs, using a free web-based e-mail system, such as one that runs on UNIX, should be considered. Another option is to consider an Internet-based Exchange service, in which a business will host the system for a fee.

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