IMail:
An Inexpensive, Easy-to-Use Internet Mail Server for NT

Ipswitch's IMail for NT is an easy-setup, low-maintenance server that supports a large number of users/domains for a low total cost of ownership. A la carte add-ons like customizable web mail create ISP revenue opportunities.

Lisa Phifer
VP Core Competence, Inc.

Mail servers have become a mission critical resource for ISPs and enterprises alike. Many enterprises run Notes, Exchange or GroupWise servers to support internal mail and act as an SMTP gateway. Many ISPs run sendmail or another UNIX-based SMTP server like QMail or Postfix.

But groupware servers include collaboration features and per-client licensing fees that add to their total cost of operation. Supporting a large user base with sendmail requires UNIX-savvy support staff with time to spend on mail administration. To fill this perceived gap, Ipswitch introduced IMail—a low-cost Internet mail server designed to run on modest NT platforms with comparatively simple administration.

Ipswitch officials cite two broad Internet research studies that confirm a market position for IMail: "Sirana Software did a crawl of 1.5 million IP addresses, counting what type of SMTP server answered," said David Karp, Ipswitch Product Marketing Manager for IMail. "IMail came in second behind sendmail. Messaging On-Line took a census of mailboxes and found just under 20 million IMail mailboxes, third after sendmail and Exchange."

These broad studies included both enterprise and ISP markets. While sendmail and all things UNIX clearly dominate the ISP market, we were surprised to hear that nearly half of IMail sales (44 percent, to be exact) are to ISPs. Given this, we decided to take a hands-on look at the newest release of IMail Server, version 6. Our findings are presented in nine sections that follow.

 

IMail Server for Windows NT v6 $995 (250 users); $1,495 (unlimited users) Includes 60 days of free tech support Annual service agreement $345-$445 Ipswitch, Inc. Lexington, MA http://www.ipswitch.com