Trimming The Fat From Exchange

Consolidation is top of mind for many IT managers, and a portly email infrastructure is a ripe target to put on a diet. Business factors such as mergers and acquisitions and technical factors such as scalability limitations have driven up the cost of running Exchange. There's naturally some trepidation when targeting such a business-critical service for consolidation, but the benefits can be significant. In addition to saving money, a leaner Exchange infrastructure can ease the deployment of technologies that can increase productivity and flexibility like unified communications. Exchange Server 2007 brings enhancements that will aid in consolidation efforts, but firms can also consider server virtualization and other options to create a more streamlined email system. With careful and thorough planning IT managers can reduce the risk of Exchange consolidation while successfully paring down the costs sunk into their email system.