Issues of Scaling LAN E-Mail Session 4321 SHARE 85 Pat Berastegui-Egen

Agenda Forces driving towards LAN-based EMail Host-based Features LAN-based Features Disparities between Host and LAN Scalability Issues What to do in the mean time

Forces of Movement Towards LAN-Based E-Mail Movement to graphical user interfaces Reduction of Costs “Appearance” that LAN-based is cheaper Fear of stability of host-based mail systems Increase in client/server applications

Host-Based Strengths & Weaknesses Typically one integrated system Established infrastructure and stability Backups, reliability, capacity, accessibility Excellent security Lack of graphical capabilities Can be cumbersome to use

LAN-Based Strengths & Weaknesses Graphical access and improved functionality Easily scalable Perceived to be cheaper Note: support costs are 2/3 times more Poor Security and management Difficult to handle over 5,000 users Lack of one-system applications that scale to thousands of users easily

Disparities Between Host-Based vs LAN-Based Mail Systems Security Common Directories Common messaging gateway User Interfaces System Robustness System Reliability Costs (including support)

Scaling Issues - Part 1 Directory Synchoronization becomes biggest headache Lack of fully-integrated applications means supporting “Lego” architectures Management costs grow with each new PO 1/2 to Full time employee per post office * Poor mail management tools exist to control and monitor mail traffic (critical in very large sites) *Forrester Research

Scaling Issues - Part 2 Interoperability and migration Performance (LAN mail is SLOWER!) Lack of binary file transport Document conversion/viewing Trouble-shooting Multiple Post offices Biggest HP PO holds only 2000 concurrent

Scaling Issues - Part 3 Increased administration supporting multiple point-to-point gateways and extensions* * LAN extensions Gateways Inexpensive, limited, need 1 per external mail Mail Switches More reliable (multiple gateways), more expensive Backbones Internal or public (Internet), use common protocol like X400 or SMTP, rely on gateways to convert messages

What do real world users say? “Directory synch is a big, big issue. We synchronize manually -- take input from divisions, update corporate directory, then send the updated lists out to divisions. This process is very labor intensive” (electronics company) “We have three full-time people working on e-mail and messaging, and it is not enough. There is also a person in every user location who must act as the administrator for his or her group’s post office” (scientific equipment co.) “We really need to find a tool that will allow us to centralize management of mail. I brought in cc:MailView and although it will help, it is only useful for part of my environment. We need management that incorporates information from all four of our mail systems” (commercial bank)

What do vendors say? “According to the marketing messaging manager for HP, IS managers who have gone to a department solution are now having problems in the areas of directory management, trouble shooting and with the fidelity of messages” A director of Wingra Technologies says “The problems are the increasing administrative burden of supporting multiple point-to-point gateways; performance, because passing through multiple gateways is slow; lack of binary file transport; and synching directories”

What to do in the mean time? Rationalize the number of front ends Prepare for an SMTP backbone Stop implementing and focus on building consensus Standardize on the mail engine Reduce the number of systems Get ready to upgrade to standards-based versions of mail Implement a low-cost mail switch

What to do (continued) Stop host-based growth now Rationalize and standardize LAN mail choices Implement a big mail switch

What to look for? Directory Synchronization Management Full and modified-only synch, how/when scheduled, realtime or not, what fields are available Management Message tracing, reports, configuration maps, alarms, standards supported Document Conversion Addressing Available Gateways

Forrester Industry Assumptions Scaling will not be possible until companies implement central directories and get their enterprise management house in order SMTP and MAP will be building blocks for large-scale LAN Mail Good centralized tools are still missing You will need hard dollar justification The client race is over - choose one: Lotus, Microsoft or Novell