Open-Xchange Express Edition FAQ’s
Q: My Company already has an email client. Why switch to Open-Xchange?
A: OX is more than just email. The integration of webmail with a centralized storage repository allows every group to make messaging a productivity tool (rather than a liability!). The Open-Xchange Express Edition is a fully structured solution that provides collaboration and information control using email as a tool. It opens up visibility, hands back control and exposes accountability – essentially elevating individual knowledge to corporate knowledge. In streamlining workflow processes within a company while increasing accessibility to information at any time, from any place – communication is clear and precise.
Q: Who can benefit from the Express Edition? A: Anyone can benefit from Open-Xchange Express Edition! Collaboration boosts productivity between any two or more people working together. Particularly in small to medium organizations looking for an in-house, low maintenance IT service.
Q: Is the Open-Xchange Express Edition free?A: No. Open-Xchange Express Edition can be downloaded for evaluation purposes and then a subscription needs to be purchased after the evaluation is completed.
Q: Can I not get Open-Xchange Express Edition for free from your community site?A: No. Open-Xchange does publish its source code on the community website and with this code it can be possible to put together a product that is very similar to Open-Xchange Express Edition, but remember the source code is often further ahead of the product that is released and usually in an untested state. Also there is no maintenance or operating system updates offered with the code as well as the OXtender for Microsoft Outlook is available with a valid subscription only. Open-Xchange Express Edition is a fully self contained out-of-the-box smart collaboration solution, what is available on the community site is source code to build a collaboration tool.
Q: What are the prerequisites to installing the Open-Xchange Express Edition on a supplied machine?A: There are none! Open-Xchange Express Edition is designed to be a solution in and of itself, with no hidden cost or software requirements. Integrating the 32 bit Ubuntu Operating System, Open-Xchange Express Edition has everything you need in one easy-to-install package.
Q: I know very little about Linux, can I use Open-Xchange Express Edition?A: Yes. The installation, administration and user interface was designed for administrators and users with varied skill sets. Since everything you need is included in one package, all you have to do is boot from the installation CD, answer a few questions from the wizard and the process is complete. No system management skills or Linux know-how required. Maintaining the product is just as easy, with built-in automated updates and troubleshooting.
Q: What is Ubuntu all about? How does this affect me as a customer? A: Ubuntu is a community developed Linux-based operating system that can do everything that a Windows Operating System can do – perfect for laptops, desktops, and servers. There are basically two kinds of Linux: "Distributions" and "Enterprise Linux". The latter are very complex operating systems that address the issues of a wide range of applications and hardware platforms. As most of the packages delivered with Enterprise Linux are not required for OX EE, it was decided not to use these offerings (it would also have made OX EE several hundred dollars more expensive to the customer). Ubuntu offered us the ability to use a more streamlined operating system tailored precisely for OX EE. All these points plus other special features of Ubuntu met our demanding requirement for OX EE.
Q: What is the minimum order that can be placed for Open-Xchange Express Edition? A: The minimum order is 5 users and thereafter a customer can purchase additional user bundles of 5 users.
Q: How is Open-Xchange Express Edition priced?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition is priced in a traditional way, but based on a subscription concept. You page an initial fee for the first year (1 base pack plus additional users) and then on you pay a substantially reduced renewal fee each year thereafter.
Q: How do I purchase?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition can be purchased directly through the online shop, or purchased from a channel of competent partners. To find a partner near you please see our see
partner locator, or contact us, and a sales representative will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Q: What does the pricing cover?A: When purchased the customer transforms an evaluation version of the product into a production version of the product. This means they get the full update service that provides product and operating system updates (security patches, updates, fixes, extended functionality etc.); fully tested solution; Documentation; OXtender for Microsoft Outlook ®; upgrade assurance to future versions of Open-Xchange Express Edition and access to the Open-Xchange maintenance portal including knowledge base and the removal of any evaluation restrictions or reminders: In general a full product and peace of mind.
Q: What is the renewal pricing after year one or three?A: We are launching with a subscription based approach which means that renewals are the same as purchase price, but there is a discount for multi-year renewals. See the price list for details.
Q: What are the hardware requirements?A: Hardware requirements’ will vary based on the number of users, but here are some recommendations:
20 Users CPU: Athlon64/P4 Memory: 1 GB Disk: 500MB + User Data
50 Users CPU: Athlon64 x2/Core2 Duo Memory: 2 GB Disk: 500MB + User Data
250 Users CPU: Opteron x2/Xeon x2 Memory: 4 GB Disk: 500MB + User Data
Q: What can I use for Anti-virus & Anti-spam?A: Anti-virus and Anti-spam are included as part of this product.
Q: Can I migrate data from Microsoft Exchange to Open-Xchange Express Edition?A: At this time a migration tool has not been developed. You may contact a partner for additional information. Another option is to save user data as a PST file and import it into Open-Xchange Express Edition.
Q: What PDA’s are supported?A: Email is already possible for any device that supports IMAP or POP3. Open-Xchange is also working on tighter integration for complete mobility solution for Open-Xchange Express Edition. We expect the solution to be available in 2007. This will result in a more complete solution for devices such as mobile phones, Blackberry & Microsoft mobile devices.
Q: What capabilities does the administrative tool offer?A: Ease of adding, editing and deleting users and groups, built-in anti-spam & anti-virus solutions as well as a graphical interface for monitoring the system. Click here to visit the admin interface in our screenshots gallery.
Q: What happens if I have a problem?A: In the unlikely event that you run into issues you can purchase an emergency support incident. Please refer to the support pages on the web site for details, but any purchased incidence can usually be redeemed against a full support contract if you wish to go that way.
Q: Can I migrate from Open-Xchange Server 5 to Open-Xchange Express Edition?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition is a brand new product and not a replacement or next version of Open-Xchange Server 5. It differs in target audience as well as functionality so there is no migration tool available for Open-Xchange Server 5 data transfer. However, should you need to transfer data from Open-Xchange Server 5 to the Open-Xchange Express Edition, please contact one of our partners for migration assistance.
Q: Can I backup data?A: Within Open-Xchange Express Edition there is a backup capability. It can take snapshots that allow recovery to that point. Therefore if the machine is destroyed/damaged/crashes it is simply a matter of installing the software onto a new/original machine (average of 20 minutes) and then recovering the snapshot: Everything is then up and running again as before.
Q: What is the maximum number of concurrent users that can be on Open-Xchange Express Edition?A: As Open-Xchange Express Edition is based on the same core code as our Open-Xchange Hosting Edition there is no limit, but the product is targeted at the a range of 20 to 250 users, with testing going into the thousands of users. Most of the limits will be dependant on the specification of the chosen hardware on which the system is running.
Q: How much storage does each Open-Xchange Express Edition account come with?A: There is no storage limit (other than hardware constraints) determined by Open-Xchange. Individual user storage limits can be allocated by the administrator to limit the size of mailboxes for specific groups or members on the account.
Q: Can I integrate a third party application?A: No, Open-Xchange Express Edition was designed for ease of deployment and ease of use (out-of-the-box solution). Open-Xchange Server 5 is a supported product with standard API’s for third party integration.
Q: Can I use a SLES or RHEL operating System?A: No, the operating system is integrated into the application in a single installer thus providing a self contained out-of-the-box solution.
Q: Who else is using Open-Xchange Express Edition?A: Please see references listed at
www.open-xchange.comQ: Do I need training?A: The user and administrative interface were designed to be intuitive with a minimal learning curve.
Q: What browsers are supported?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition will work with most of the popular browsers, but Open-Xchange recommends Firefox (2++), Internet Explorer 7, SeaMonkey (1.0++) for their efficient handling of modern web techniques such as AJAX.
Q: What standard import formats do you support?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition supports: CSV, iCal, vCard
Q: Is there a way to use other operating systems, than the included Ubuntu?A: No, Open-Xchange Express Edition is a fully self contained out-of-the-box solution that incorporates Ubuntu. It is not designed to be run on anything else. If this is a requirement then it is suggested that Open-Xchange Server 5 be looked at.
Q: Does Open-Xchange plan to offer Open-Xchange Express Edition as a HW appliance?A: No, there is no current plan by Open-Xchange to do so, but there are partners who may offer, in the future, a pre-build or pre-packaged solution on hardware. Please feel free to contact your local partner to provide you with a hardware solution with Open-Xchange Express Edition pre-installed on it.
Q: Where can I find more information on Open-Xchange Express Edition?A: Fact sheets, data sheets, online demos, white papers and evaluations can all be found on out web site.
Q: How does an Open-Xchange Express Edition administrator update the operating system?A: All updates, including operating system update, will be supplied by Open-Xchange directly to the server itself via the built-in updater. All the administrator has to do is press a button. This service will be provided to all maintenance paying customers.
Q: Does Open-Xchange Express Edition support Fetchmail?A: As promised Fetchmail was delivered in the maintenance update issues at the end of October. All paying customers who activated their update service would have received this.
Q: Does Open-Xchange Express Edition support mail filters?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition launched without this functionality, but it is planned to be released in an update later in 2008.
Q: Does Open-Xchange Express Edition support Samba integration?A: Due to lack of demand for Samba Open-Xchange Express Edition will launch without this functionality. It is not planned to be supported unless demand increases, but if this is required then it is suggested that the customer look at Open-Xchange Server 5.
Q: Can the system be installed on top of an existing Linux installation?A: No, Open-Xchange Express Edition is a fully self contained out-of-the-box solution that incorporates Ubuntu. It is not designed to be run on anything else. If this is a requirement then it is suggested that Open-Xchange Server 5 be looked at.
Q: How does Open-Xchange position Open-Xchange Express Edition against Open-Xchange Server 5?A: They are completely different products targeting completely different issues: Open-Xchange Express Edition is targeting organisations that want a fully self contained out-of-the-box solution. Something that will install simply and then run with no fuss. Open-Xchange Server 5 is targeting customers with integration and bespoke requirements, a more custom solution to fit their more diverse need.
Q: How long will Open-Xchange Express Edition be supported and what is the planned lifecycle of this product?A: Open-Xchange Express Edition is a brand new product from Open-Xchange and is envisaged to have long life. Open-Xchange has already service packs on the roadmap and future versions in mind. Also Open-Xchange offers full upgrade assurance to keep maintenance paying customers (sold in 1 or 3 year bundles) up to date with future versions of this product.
