[plug] Re: Gartner Flash 12/31/98 (or at least, one article chopped therefrom)

[Leon Brooks]

Kev Downes wrote:
> >From: Tabitha Wellman <tabitha.wellman at westinfo.com.au>
> >Subject: Gartner Flash 12/31/98
> >Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1999 18:35:15 +0800
> >X-Ms-Tnef-Correlator: <D1D2D9FA7A00D211B88B006097D6A84F011991 at westnt1.westinfo.com.au>
> >X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.1960.3)

(-: want to bet they use Exchange? :-)

> >Tabitha Wellman
> >Account Manager
> >Westinfo Services (WA Distributor for Gartner Group)
> >Tel: (08) 9380 8372
> >Fax: (08) 9380 8379
> >Email: tabitha.wellman at westinfo.com.au

> >In this issue:

> >*      Impeachment E-Mail Avalanche Augurs "No-Confidence" Vote for Exchange

> >EVENT: Recent news reports indicate that the U.S. House of
> >Representatives has been inundated with E-
> >mail messages from constituents regarding the impeachment hearings (more
> >than 1 million messages
> >a day). Microsoft Exchange servers went down, constituent E-mail went
> >undelivered for days and
> >internal E-mail performance degraded. Exchange server r.4's 16-Gbyte
> >mail store limit was identified as
> >the cause. The House plans to upgrade to Exchange 5.5 to solve the
> >problem.

> >ANALYSIS: In an environment that must handle prodigious volumes of
> >E-mail quickly, efficiently and
> >reliably, we believe that no upgrade to Exchange exists that meets these
> >requirements. This is an
> >indictment of Exchange, the operating system it runs on (Windows NT) and
> >the hardware platforms
> >supported by NT. None of the top Internet services use Exchange for
> >E-mail - not even Microsoft's.

> >The House's use of E-mail is a classic example of different system
> >requirements for specific classes of
> >users. It is also an illustration of the difficulty of meeting all
> >requirements with any one technology.
> >Although good reasons may exist for the House to use Exchange for
> >internal users (e.g., integrated
> >calendaring and distributed servers for members' offices), other
> >products are much more efficient for
> >handling high-volume E-mail.

> >Standards-based E-mail servers (e.g., from Netscape Communications and
> >Innosoft) running on more robust
> >platforms (e.g., Sun Microsystems' Solaris) generally provide a superior
> >architecture for maximum
> >scalability, performance, reliability and availability. Products are
> >also available that are designed to
> >manage high-traffic E-mail locations (e.g., for Web sites) more
> >efficiently.

> >Although not reported as issues in the House failure, NT, the operating
> >system, and the hardware on which
> >it runs is not as scalable as other platforms. NT is not as reliable as
> >Unix (or OS/400), and NT hardware
> >platforms are not as reliable as those available for other operating
> >systems (such as Unix).

> >RECOMMENDATION: We believe Exchange is a good "internal" E-mail system.
> >Enterprises should be
> >wary of viewing all their E-mail requirements as "internal." Enterprises
> >with high-volume, high-
> >performance, high-reliability external communication requirements should
> >consider alternatives.

> >SERVICE: Intranets & Electronic Workplace
> >ANALYSTS: Jim Browning and Tom Austin

Well said, Jim and Tom. (-:

-- 
A conclusion is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.