Hosted exchange
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Blackberry Service
In order to address growing interest in the use of Blackberry devices on campus, ISC conducted an evaluation and developed the following as a recommended service option. As always, faculty and staff should speak to their local support provider to ensure that this service can be supported well within the local environment and that all of their specific needs are met.
The Blackberry is designed to work with Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. While some level of support can be achieved with other mail servers through additional software and components full functionality cannot be achieved today without Exchange or Notes. If your users are not on Exchange to begin with, our recommendation is to go with an externally hosted Exchange service. Please contact the Provider desk (prodesk@isc.upenn.edu, (215)573-4017) for more information on recommended vendors.
Sample Cost
The cost for an individual Blackberry user is approximately $80 in one-time setup fees and then approximately $30/month for an email account with 100MB quota. Detailed pricing information, including group pricing and sample cost calculations are provided below.
Important Considerations
Desktop and Client Software
The Blackberry is much better supported on Windows systems than on those running Mac OS. Microsoft Outlook has been designed to fully support the features within Microsoft Exchange. While it is possible to use other email clients to access Microsoft Exchange accounts on the Mi8 server (Apple Mail is one example), a Windows desktop running Microsoft Outlook 2003 is strongly recommended.
Collaboration
The externally hosted Exchange accounts are independent of systems on campus that users may currently be using for group calendaring and shared contacts. If there is a need for shared or proxy access to information among users (e.g. when an executive assistant helps manage the calendar and email for a Dean or VP or when departments use group scheduling or shared contacts) a clear plan must be developed for how this type of collaboration will be supported. One option is to move the entire group of people that share data to the externally hosted Exchange service and use the collaboration features provided within Microsoft Exchange.
Maintaining .upenn.edu email addresses
A .upenn.edu domain can be created by external vendors to support user@domain.upenn.edu addresses.
Training and Support
If the users and computing support staff within the department are not already familiar with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, and with the Blackberry, plan for training in advance. In addition, give IT staff access to test accounts and devices and allow time for them to fully test the new environment.
Service Options and Costs
Pricing from one sample vendor offers two different pricing models for email services, a simple per-account model and a pooled storage model that is more flexible and may be more cost effective for groups.
1 - Standard Reserved Mailbox Pricing Standard 100MB Exchange Mailboxes, quantity 1-10, $14.95 /user/month ($12.95 for 11+) Additional Storage for Public Folders - 10 Mb per user (aggregated across organization) Additional storage is aggregated to the total company needs and discounts applied accordingly.
- $.90/10 Mb/month, up to 1 GB
- $.75/10 Mb/month, 1 GB or more
2- Pooled Storage Pricing Empty User Mailboxes - $6 /User /month Storage for Mailboxes and Public Folders - $40/GB/Month The storage is allocated based on the overall needs of the organization. Private Mailbox storage is allocated on a per user basis without size restrictions. Public Folder storage is automatically increased or decreased as needed when information is moved in and out of the Public Folders.
In addition to the base email service, the following optional services are available:
Blackberry-Exchange Service
- $45 setup/device, $12.99 /device/month
Postini Advanced Spam Control Service
- Spam Control Account Setup [one time set up fee] - ($30 /company, $15 /domain, $1 /user)
- Spam Control Subscription - $1.75 /user/month
All users in a domain must sign up.
Public/Shared Folder
- $20 setup, $5/month
Domain Name Hosting
- $20 setup or change, $0month
Support Costs
In order to support users effectively, the LSP for a department that an external Exchange vendor should have an account on the external server with administrative privileges. An administrative utility will enable your local computing support provider to manage a number of options associated with the accounts. Other changes in configuration must be completed by the vendors and have standard costs associated. A full schedule of support costs is available from the Provider Desk.
Sample Cost Calculations
Individual account with blackberry service and spam control:
| Account | One-Time Setup* | Account | Spam | Quota | Blackberry | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group/Domain | $35 (Domain+Spam) | |||||
| Blackberry User | $46 (Blackberry+Spam) | $14.95 | $1.75 | 100MB | $12.99 | $29.69 |
| LSP (support) account | $1 (Spam) | $14.95 | $1.75 | 100MB | $16.70 | |
| Total One-Time | $82 | |||||
| Monthly Total | $46.39 | |||||
| Annual Cost | $556.68 | |||||
| * Blackberry = $45, Spam = $15/domain, $1/user | ||||||
Group of 10 users with a total of three Blackberry devices on the pooled storage model:
| Account | One-Time Setup* | Account | Spam | Quota | Blackberry | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group/Domain | $35 (Domain+Spam) | $40.00 | $40.00 | |||
| LSP (support) account | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $16.70 | ||
| Blackberry User | $46 (Blackberry+Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $12.99 | $20.74 | |
| Blackberry User | $46 (Blackberry+Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $12.99 | $20.74 | |
| Blackberry User | $46 (Blackberry+Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $12.99 | $20.74 | |
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| User | $ 1 (Spam) | $6.00 | $1.75 | $7.75 | ||
| Total One-Time | $181.00 | |||||
| Monthly Total | $173.17 | |||||
| Annual Cost | $2,078.04 | |||||
| * Blackberry = $45, Spam = $15/domain, $1/user | ||||||
