Hi,

I have a client who is interested in setting up Microsoft Exchange within their office. They have approximately 40 users on the LAN, the rest would be external. (60+)

The biggest issue that I face is that these guys are located where the fastest upload connection they can obtain is around 512kbps (ie, they can only upload at around 62KBps)

They are not keen on 365 hosting, due to the cost and would prefer to host in house if possible.

Do you think this is possible, or are their any recommendations on how to best handle this?

Thanks in advance.

Adam

Ignoring the slow connection speeds, I'd generally suggest that the more users you have that are external compared to internal, the more benefit and justification there is to go with Exchange that isn't on-premises, since the majority of traffic won't be local.

In your specific case I really wouldn't want to try having 60+ users trying to connect to their email over an internet connection like that. Even in normal operation you're going to struggle with 40 users on a 512k connection, but add 60+ users connecting into Exchange and potentially receiving large messages and you could quickly have issues.

Just connecting etc shouldn't be an issue since that doesn't use much bandwidth, but all you need is someone to send a largish message to several of those external users and they'll all be downloading (using your upload) it and hammering your connection.

I'm not familiar with the costs for 365 but that's not your only option, other companies offer hosted exchange and may work out cheaper so be more viable. Additionally they might be able to offer some kind of hybrid setup where your local users are hosted on a local exchange setup, while the external users are on hosted Exchange.

Hi,

For other calculator tool for Exchange 2013, please see:

Released: Exchange 2013 Server Role Requirements Calculator

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/05/14/released-exchange-2013-server-role-requirements-calculator.aspx

Thanks,

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact tnsfl@microsoft.com

I would also recommend to avail cloud services for the number of users you have(100+).

Besides with office 365, you can segment and choose the plan that works best for your business users and that will be cost effective solution for you.

Take a look

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans-FX102918419.aspx