Zimbra with External IMAP accounts

[Degenerate]

Hello all,

I know from other sources that Zimbra can access external IMAP accounts. Is it possible to configure Zimbra to use a external IMAP accounts as the main email store and omit all the mail storage/transport/filtering components from the install?

Background: We're a small family business with next to no IT budget. We want Zimbra for the rich web client and groupware functionality, but the system requirements seem pretty heavy. If we can lighten the load a bit it will save spending out for a higher spec virtual or dedicated hosted server. Our current IMAP mail has been perfectly adequate for our needs. It comes in a package with our domains and webspace, so will be sitting unused if we move our mail to Zimbra.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

[Narev]

I would suggest you take a look at the zimbra desktop application. This would greatly reduce your problems here.

[Degenerate]

Originally Posted by Narev

I would suggest you take a look at the zimbra desktop application. This would greatly reduce your problems here.

Thanks. We are looking at Zimbra desktop as a possible client to use for syncing and working offline, but we were also hoping for a web client accessible from any machine, and over-the-air mobile syncing.

We need a virtual or dedicated server anyway, as I'm about to commence building a database application in Wavemaker, hence we need to run a java servlet container and RDBMS. We're also considering funambol, another java servlet for OTA mobile sync. This all seemed to integrate quite elegantly with Zimbra as it includes Jetty and MySQL, but running a lot of redundant mail software will offset this efficiency. I'd rather not put all our eggs in the one server basket anyway, our existing email service has been reliable enough, all we want is the Zimbra web client. I know ZCS can access external IMAP, the question is does this integrate as well as local mail, and can it run with no local mail at all?