Zimbra vs. Scalix

[dazole2]

Our, how about this solution:

Zimbra already has VAR's that resell licenses. Let the VAR break the licenses down. i.e. SomeCompany, Inc buys the bulk 25+ licenses. SomeCompany, Inc has a customer that only needs 5. SomeCompany, Inc sells the client the 5 licenses and either 1) handles the support issues or 2) sells a support contract with Zimbra.

Everybody wins. Heck, I'd buy some licenses *today* if I could. But I don't need 5, 25, 50, or 100. I need 2. One for me and one for my wife. I'd pay up to $149/year for that (same price as MobileMe, hint, hint).

Think about it:
25 licenses * $35 = $875
Mobile = $500
Total = $1375/year (about $55 per license)

1 license (including mobile) * $100 * 25 = $2500
2 licenses (including mobile) * $149 * 12 = $1788

The profit margin is pretty impressive. Especially considering all the VAR needs to do is generate a license. And it goes up the more licenses the VAR buys (up to $28/per license).
Heck, I might even consider becoming a reseller if that was possible...

Please, for the love of all thats holy, look into this, and soon!

Thanks,
David

[epoc1000]

My wish would be Starter Edition + Zimbra Mobile that would do it. I need only a few licences, no support and mostly no feature updates. My price gap would be 650 Euros. Compared to Scalix, Kerio and SBS would that be a real deal for small business or private customers. I think Zimbra loses a lot in that market segment.

[heymrdj]

I too am in the same whole. Although I need more licenses (45) I only need mobile. I don't need to pay for network edition, I love just the open source. But I can't get mobile (all the features of it anyways instead of just IMAP/ICS) without paying for licenses. I'd love to just buy mobile "licenses" really cheap.

[dazole2]

Well, honestly, I only need mobile also (push cal, email, contacts to my iPhone). I'm willing to put up with the other licenses to get it, though.

David

[heymrdj]

Originally Posted by dazole2

Well, honestly, I only need mobile also (push cal, email, contacts to my iPhone). I'm willing to put up with the other licenses to get it, though.

David

Running a donations/school budget club technology club though, I can't afford 28$/person licenses. It would be hundreds. Not just so we can sync email on a mobile device. I wish for mobile licenses that my club could afford, like 10$ per person. We don't need any other features, just the mobile.

But we can't have everything in life.

[gmsmith]

For Education/Non-Profit pricing, contact sales or a Zimbra VAR, you get special pricing.

[epoc1000]

I was told that non-profit is no option for me and most Zimbra VAR's just sell hosted accounts and that's also no option.

PLEASE ZIMBRA! I have the OS version, at the moment I pay nothing for it and you do all the work. I want to buy the Starter Edition for 15 users + Zimbra Mobile for 15 users with NO Support etc..

So, at the moment I'm at the point to migrate to Kerio, because of the ActiveSync support and the better licensing conditions for me.

[Klug]

Originally Posted by epoc1000

I was told that non-profit is no option for me

As gsmith said, if you are education/administration/club you can get non-profit prices.

Originally Posted by epoc1000

Zimbra VAR's just sell hosted accounts and that's also no option.

These are not VARs, these are HSP (Hosting Service Partners).
Some VARs are also HSP, obviously.

If you can not get answers in Germany, there are VARs in other European countries. You can also deal with Zimbra directly if needed.

[epoc1000]

To make my self clear. I have contacted Zimbra and I was told that I'm not qualified. The discounts also apply only to the normal conditions. The other problem, if you look at the sites of most german VAR's you get hosted services or services for large companies. The direct contact with Zimbra just gave me the normal 25 accounts limit together with Zimbra Mobile and a discount, if you pay for 3 years. This ended up in a hugh amount of money. Sorry, but these are my experience.

What I'm trying to say is, that there is no real deal for small businesses (max. 15 users), who need the same services as large companies. I want and need to host my collaboration services on my own servers and I decided to use Zimbra. Now, I need Zimbra Mobile as additional Feature, but I can not afford a 3 year plan with 25 users and Zimbra Mobile. That's more expensive then Scalix or Kerio, due to the fact, thatt I don't need support or more feature upgrades. Just a box which give me that features for a comparable price to other small business solutions.

Originally Posted by Klug

As gsmith said, if you are education/administration/club you can get non-profit prices.


These are not VARs, these are HSP (Hosting Service Partners).
Some VARs are also HSP, obviously.

If you can not get answers in Germany, there are VARs in other European countries. You can also deal with Zimbra directly if needed.

[iceruam]

I have been using the OSE for close to two years, I am currently at version 5.0.7
I only have 50 users and find it easy to manage and maintain. The initial setup can be quite a chore but that is only because it is new and I need to get used to the terminology of the product. I find support in the forums to be very helpful almost all of the time. Now of course I would like to have the backups and clustering capabilities but will make do for now. Keep up the good work and thanks for offering such a great product.