People get shot for doing it wrong. He advises abandoning unrealistic goals, such as a single E- mail platform for the entire corporation. Usually, the best they can do is to installone strategic system and several auxiliary ones. The problem, of course, is that all users have their favorites. And an E-mail system that excels on one platform may be lackluster or unavailable on another.
Gateways usually have low prices, but there's still a cost.
Most of the major E-mail systems, such as those from Lotus Development Corp. and Microsoft Corp., provide gateways between their own systems and others. But you may be better off with another product. When picking gateways, spend most of the time looking at how well done the management procedures are for doingdirectory synchronization. This connects E-mail systems to the central switch instead of to each other. Switches remain the leading choice for complex environments.