"When most businesses start out they are able to make do with a couple of email addresses and a few shared directories to get their daily work done.
"But as they grow in size they usually start to look for products that will give them more features and better tools to share emails, calendars, project notes, remote email and so on. The most obvious solution for most companies that are already using Windows is to set up a Microsoft Exchange server which offers all this and more.
"There are many good reasons to install Microsoft Exchange: It is easier for system administrators to manage email accounts, add and delete users, keep email in a central repository as well as enable calendars and calendar sharing. But, Microsoft Exchange is also expensive to buy, has a finite set of features and is not open source.
Which is why many users consider open source groupware alternatives that offer the features of Exchange without the cost and limitations. Here we look as some of the most popular of these."
