The arrival of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 (ES2K3) is a significant event in the history of this product. First, it brings to a close the second era of the codebase. Released back in 1996 on the NT 4 wave, ES4 (there was no 1, 2 or 3) brought enterprise-level email, contact management, diary management and so forth to the Windows Server platform in a new and comprehensive BackOffice application.

Whatever size your business is, now is the time to bite the bullet and upgrade to Server 2008

A disappointingly modest number of improvements, although they’re well integrated into the complete suite.

A reliable means of backing up virtual machines to prevent disasters.

A fine combination of remote management, all-round fault tolerance and top build quality

The T100 is a compact pedestal server and its combination of value and features makes it well worth considering

Superpowered and workgroup friendly with great features, but with a steep learning curve for administrators. Find out what the "other" side of the server world looks like

A versatile single-socket rack server with a wide range of processor choices, plus a good warranty for the price.

A versatile single-socket rack server with a wide range of processor choices, plus a good warranty for the price.

A solid, general-purpose pedestal server with good storage and a classy management act – plus it’s quiet as a mouse

Being enterprise software, one usually needs considerable expertise and time to obtain optimal performance and functionality. This is especially true for a product as comprehensive and feature rich as Lotus Domino 6.5 which is fully programmable and can provide workflow, knowledge management, document management, archiving, database and collaboration services via a client-server or browser based thin client model.

This rather unusual system from MCT has a bit of everything.

To be fair, if you were going to deploy Netware 6, you would have a trained Novell engineer (CNE) configure it on a Netware 6-certified box from a major manufacturer. We, nevertheless, decided to wipe our Windows 2000 clone server and start afresh with Netware.

Comparatively pricey, but IBM delivers a quality rack-server package.

Easy to set up and administer; has all the advantages which Linux offers.

True Image provides a simple but effective disaster-recovery system, with useful data backup facilities.

Installation needs to be much more streamlined, but this is a low-maintenance security solution with quality reporting

A wealth of web server load-balancing and traffic-management features; ideal for those on a tight budget.

The first of the new breed of IBM rack servers, delivering superb design and a wealth of new features.

HP’s Opteron MP server delivers an innovative design teamed with high expansion potential and a good price.