This is an ad for a job that was posted at aztech-work@yahoogroups.com on MAY 27, 2005. It is verbatim. Only the interesting parts have been highlighted for emphasis.
(Contact info has been omitted)
Title: Experienced Microsoft Exchange Engineer to assist with an enterprise migration from Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server to Microsoft Server 2003.
Duration: Engagement is 9- 12 months
Work location: North Phoenix (close to Metrocenter Mall)
Minimum Skill Requirements:
- The successful candidate will have minimum of five years' progressively responsible experience demonstrating advanced knowledge administering, supporting and engineering Microsoft Exchange 2000 and/or 2003 in an enterprise-level (1,000+ mailboxes, multiple data centers), 24x7 data center environment.
- BS/BA equivalency or any combination of four years relevant work experience and completed years of relevant college coursework.
- Demonstrated ability to apply information systems engineering development and implementation methodologies.
- Demonstrated oral communication and interpersonal skills.
Highly Preferred Requirements:
- Demonstrated expertise highly preferred for the following areas: Advanced Microsoft certification (e.g. MCSE), information security, and high availability messaging environment using SAN, Veritas clustering and rapid-recovery, email firewall and antivirus, email archiving, Exchange performance tuning, implementing and maintaining security authorization facilities and methods.
- Other desired skills and experience would include: Microsoft Live Communications Server, Outlook Mobile Access, Outlook Web Access, MS ISA Server.
NOTE: This analysis only covers the "LABOR" for the upgrade project. Things it does not include the cost of hardware, software, licensing, support, or any other factor. However, many sources suggest that the Labor portion is the most costly factor. The cost for licensing alone makes up only a fraction of the total project cost.
Generally speaking, companies who hire a 'body shop' to fill a position spend around $75-80 per hour for a high level employee such as this. For this single 12 month position, the company will pay out a total of $156,000. This assumes the upgrade is completed in the time specified.
The contracting company has been contacted to find out exactly how much the position pays. They have also been asked to identify exactly how many mailboxes are in the Exchange system. For this analysis, we will assume 1000 mailboxes (per the posting). To date, there has been no response.
Comparison |
Exchange Upgrade |
GroupWise Upgrade |
| Exchange 2000 to Exchange 2003 Upgrade |
GroupWise 5.x or 6.0 to GroupWise 6.5 Upgrade |
| 1000 Mailboxes, Multiple Locations. |
No big deal. GroupWise can easily handle 1000 Mailboxes on one server. For companies with multiple locations, it's no problem to have multiple post offices. |
| 9-12 Month Project. Apparently this is a very complex project requiring a tremendous amount of work. |
Same size GroupWise Upgrade: Maximum of 4 weeks. The server components of a GroupWise system can be upgraded in a long weekend. The client components would take the most time, but could easily be automated using various methods. Even if the GroupWise system was moved to new hardware, it's not any more difficult than moving files from server to server. |
Labor Costs: $156,000
Based on stated project length at $80/hr for contract labor. This is conservative based on an average of $200-$700/user for a typical project. |
Labor Costs: $32,000
Based on a generous estimate of $200/hr for a consultant to spend 4 weeks from start to finish. Whether it would actually take 4 weeks is strongly debatable. |
Hardware Costs (Not included in cost estimate). Generally an Exchange system requires multiple dedicated HIGH PERFORMANCE servers to handle a load of 1000 mailboxes.
It should be noted that I have seen Exchange project commence that have required entire racks of servers to be installed to support the new Exchange version. Rather than simply upgrade in place, upgrades are generally installed onto new systems. |
Hardware Costs - A 1000 user GroupWise system can easily be installed and maintained on a single NetWare server.
A GroupWise upgrade can usually be done in-place. In a lot of cases, the underlying hardware and OS version do not have to be replaced.
In some cases, such as aging hardware or major jumps in GroupWise version (like 5.2 to 6.5), it is easier to move the GroupWise system to new hardware. |
| Typically, the company will have 2-3 Exchange administrators to manage the email system. |
A single administrator can easily manage a 1000 user GroupWise system. Additionally, they are probably responsible for other tasks such as daily user administration, system maintenance, and troubleshooting. |
| Many other things are not included in this comparison such as Security, Viruses, and Downtime. |
GroupWise systems are very secure, they are not prone to virus attacks that disable the entire network, and they are extremely stable. |
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