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The following part of this book deals with cheaper alternatives to well-known programs. As discussed before, Open Source Software can often bring a viable alternative to more expensive and common solutions. Other possibilities are often overlooked commercial alternatives from different vendors. When looking for alternatives to expensive software, TCO is a very important factor. In many cases, integration into an existing environment is problematic: When using Microsoft's giant communications server 'Exchange' as an email server, the good part is that creating users and managing user passwords is done at one location. When using alternatives, users may have to deal with different passwords for domain access and email.

You have to consider if these issues matter in your organization, or if they justify spending the extra money versus the additional labor it takes to perform double input.

Let's take a look at the first example:

1. Active Web Server
2. Mail and Communications Server
3. Instant Messaging Server
4. PBX
5. Summary