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HomeMy WebLinkAboutContract No. 2013 2513 1 - . CITY OF COLUMBIA HEIGHTS DATE: May 3, 2013 TO: Joseph Kloiber, Finance Director FROM: Aleksandr Chernin, IS Director RE: Migration from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange I recommend upgrading our email and collaboration software from Novell GroupWise to Microsoft Exchange. The approximate total cost of the upgrade is$21,000. The City of Columbia Heights has been using Novell GroupWise email and collaboration software since 2000. Since 2008 the City was not renewing annual support agreements with Novell, because the potential benefits (support and upgrades) did not justify the costs (about $4,000 per year). GroupWise is a reliable and low-maintenance messaging platform, but its market share and popularity has been steadily decreasing over the last decade due to several factors: • Insufficient support for mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). Before GroupWise 2012 was released, users could use either very basic Web-based interface, or few third-party solutions to access their GroupWise mailboxes and calendars from their mobile devices. GroupWise 2012 supports Microsoft ActiveSync- de-facto standard for mobile devices synchronization. • Increasing prevalence of Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft's messaging server (Exchange) and its front-end client (Outlook). Exchange and Outlook used to be not very stable and feature-rich platform, requiring significant maintenance. However, the latest versions of Exchange are rather stable and reliable. Outlook also gained more features and is pretty close to GroupWise. • Growing popularity of feature-rich Web-based messaging platforms for business users, especially Google Gmail. • Decline and stagnation of Novell. After several years of diminishing market value the company was purchased by Attachmate in 2010, and has been in obscurity since then. • As a result of declining GroupWise popularity,fewer software vendors are providing integration of their products with GroupWise. Also, very few of the new City employees have previous experience with GroupWise. Since 2012, IS Department has been researching possible ways to improve the City's email and collaboration system. We looked at the following options: • updating to Novell GroupWise 2012 • using Google Gmail • using VMware Zimbra • using Outlook with hosted Microsoft Exchange service • using Outlook with on-premises Microsoft Exchange servers Novell GroupWise 2012 Approximate cost: $19,000: 190 user licenses @ $87 (including 1-yr support) + 14 hrs labor @ 150 Pros: • No need to re-train City employees • Minimal involvement of outside consultants during the upgrade • No need to migrate existing emails and calendars Cons: • Almost all negative factors continue to apply Google Gmail Approximate cost: $10,000 per year: 190 users @ $50/annually Pros: • No need for on-premises servers • Support is provided by Google • Internet browser is used as a client • Identical experience for on-site and remote users Cons: • User interface is not familiar to many City employees • Google constantly makes changes to user interface and functionality • Access to emails and calendars always requires working Internet connection • Need to migrate existing emails and calendars • Google occasionally has service outages • Google customer support is mediocre at best • Integration with third-party software is difficult VMware Zimbra Approximate cost: $20,000: 200 user licenses (sold in 25-packs) @ $70 (including 1-yr support) +40 hrs labor @ $150 Pros: • Vendor is a stable company • Feature-rich clients - installed and browser-based • License includes message archival Cons: • User interface is not familiar to City employees • Need to migrate existing emails and calendars • Need to support on-premises servers (few companies offer hosted Zimbra services) • Zimbra is not a key product for VMware. It started as an open source, was purchased by Yahoo! In 2007 and then by VMware in 2010. Zimbra is still available in the Open Source Edition, with community support. Professional support is available for other editions, but our experience with technical support during the evaluation was not encouraging. • While VMware claims wide support for Zimbra by third-party software vendors, it is almost never listed in compatibility notes by those vendors, and almost none of the City VARs heard about it. 2 Outlook with hosted Exchange service Approximate cost: $18,000 per year: 190 users @ $96/annually Pros: • User interface is familiar to City employees who have used Outlook elsewhere • Support is provided by the hosting company • No need for on-premises servers • No need to pay for upgrades Cons: • Need to migrate existing emails and calendars • Some system settings are locked by the hosting provider Outlook with on-premises Exchange servers Approximate cost: $21,000: 2 server licenses @ $462 + 190 user licenses @ $51 +$10,500 labor Pros: • User interface is familiar to City employees who have used Outlook elsewhere • Full control over the system settings Cons: • Need to migrate existing emails and calendars • Need to install and support on-premises servers • Eventually will need to pay for Exchange upgrades Given the abovementioned costs, pros and cons, I recommend implementation of the Outlook with on-premises Exchange servers. Other recommendations: • Purchase licenses for the Microsoft Exchange 2013, but install Exchange 2010. System integrators agree that currently Exchange 2010 is more proven and stable platform. We can upgrade to Exchange 2013 next year and stay on this platform for at least 5 more years. • Purchase and implement email archiving solution prior to migration to Exchange. By using this solution we can simplify migration - users will archive all their GroupWise emails and appointments, then access them from Outlook clients and retrieve from archive as necessary. Archiving solution will also simplify retention of email messages according to the City records retention schedule, and email retrieval in case of data discovery requests. • Use Sovran to assist the IS Department with migration project. I've received three quotes for the same project scope: o Sovran: $10,500. o Solbrekk: $16,060. o Secure ITnet: $21,000. • Purchase Outlook 2010 Quick Start Cards ($4.80 per user). • Provide Outlook 2010 overview lectures by an instructor from the Science Museum of Minnesota, using Quick Start Cards as training material. All users should attend a lecture (2 hrs, with three choices of date and time). Each lecture is $1,195 for up to 60 users (regular SMM class price is $75/user). 3 B-System Functionality Agreement As mutually agreed per City of Columbia Heights and Sovran Inc.,the project tasks listed in the Statement of Work(SOW)for the GroupWise to Exchange 2010 have been completed and implemented accordingly. Sovran has made the following statement,and City of Columbia Heights acknowledges: Exchange 2010 has been configured and is functional. Exchange 2010's high availability features have been configured. An Outlook client is available for deployment to workstations. City of Columbia Heights and Sovran Inc.agree that the project has been completed and that City of Columbia Heights assumes responsibility of their equipment. Agreed too If of Sovran, Inc` Agreed to on ibe f"C" of of is Heights Signature: - Signature:Name: . U"�t '�? Name: lG � Title: Title: Date: Date: -4A (o--1�f Sovran,Inc./Confidential Page-8 City of Columbia Heights Exchange SOW