Ferris: Microsoft Online Collaboration Services Are Reasonably Priced

Nick Shelness of Ferris Research makes the comparison between a Microsoft based on premise solution vs the Business Productivity Online Solution :

… Microsoft Online Services are reasonably priced compared to the cost of running equivalent on-premises software.

Consider what’s likely to be a common purchase of Microsoft Online Services:

  • Exchange Online (email/calendaring/address books)
  • Office Communications Online (presence/instant messaging)
  • Office Live Meeting (Web conferencing)
  • SharePoint Online (shared spaces/workflow management)
  • Exchange Hosted Services (email archiving/spam and malware filtering)

The price varies on whether elements are purchased singly or in a bundle, but it seems $15/user/month will be common, with volume discounts of around 20%.

Using the on-premises versions of Exchange, OCS, and SharePoint, Microsoft typically receives annual income of about $60 to $80/user/year; or $5-$7/user/month. For example, consider the Small Business Server Standard Edition pricing, which basically provides Exchange, SharePoint, and anti-spam and anti-virus for Exchange. For 100 users, it costs:

  • $1,089 for the server license and five-user clients access licenses (”CALs”)
  • $7,315 for 95 CALs, which are payable annually …

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