On-Premises Versus Hosted Email

A decision between managing email and collaboration on-premises versus using an outsourced hosted solution is one no organization takes lightly. On-premises deployments maximize configurability and can be advantageous if you plan on deeply integrating Zimbra with your existing back office systems. Email hosting leaves hardware and most administration tasks to the provider. Either option using Zimbra is powerful and cost-effective compared to equivalent legacy platforms.

Another option to evaluate is on-premises private or public hosted clouds using virtualization with greatly simplify IT.

Comparing On-Premises with Hosted Benefits

	Zimbra On-Premises	Zimbra Hosting
Overall Deployment Flexibility	Maximum. Choose hardware and configuration Set all feature, storage and security policies Integrate other internal systems as needed	Medium to High. No hardware maintenance Limit software administration Features or customization can be more limited by provider
ZCS Feature Availability	Maximum. All ZCS features available	High. Most to all end-user features Limited administration features for domain administration
Support and SLA Responsibility	24/7 product support available from Zimbra and VMware Your IT team owns hardware SLA	24/7 support and uptime guarantees available through hosting partner Partner manages hardware
Deployment Control	Maximum. Your manage sizing and hardware configuration (Zimbra or VAR can assist on sizing and migration for larger deployments)	Medium. Zimbra partner manages deployment You manage the users Migration assistance from partner available*
Customization	Maximum. Tune configuration, domain and manage policies Customize branding and skins Deploy any Zimlet or build custom web services	Medium. Choose custom domains, logos and colors* Standard Zimlets plus partner’s custom*
Administration	Maximum. Control all aspects of the server, class-of-service (CoS), back-up policies, mail queues, user provisioning and delegated administrators	Medium. Server, back-up, storage policy set by partner* Manage user provisioning
Pricing	Annual, multi-year and perpetual options with discounts for education, government, non-profits and emerging markets	Monthly and annual pricing available*

* Specific features and services available vary depending on the partner. Detailed plan information is available on their websites.