How are they using Exchange? Is it a pirated copy, or did he get setup
with Windows Small Business Edition?
Rest of my comments inline:
Joe User wrote:
Access his email from anywhere and have the same contents as local
and remote - IMAP
IMAP, OWA, or you can configure Outlook to do RPC over HTTP, so you can
fire up Outlook on a workstation and get your Exchange mail without
having to VPN in. It's *not* designed for "kiosk" type use -- he'd want
to use that on his home PC or something with a fast connection.
You also need to either setup a SSL cert - you can self sign (but you
need to setup a CA) or buy a cert. Buying one is the best/easiest/most
compatible way of doing it.
Ability to read and write email on phone currently uses Alltel as a
carrier. - ???
If it's a Windows Mobile or Palm phone -- no problem. Anything else
you're looking at doing IMAP.
Wants to share Outlook calendars between his wkst's - Exchange.
Yup, or Google Apps.
His exchange has been running 6 months and the guy that did it for
him is a fly-by-niter and is not terribly dependable.
So 5 people - still hosted looks smarter. I just need to find him a
good host don't you think?
Hosted would be more secure and reliable, but if he's shelled out for
Exchange, it's hard to justify it. Plus migrating off Exchange might be
a pain.
Don't forget that he should get a good anti-spam/anti-virus package, or
a hardware box like a Barracuda, or get a hosted MX solution like
MessageOne, Postini, etc.
