In what the Radicati Group calls the first study to compare messaging total cost of ownership (TCO) in the enterprise market for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 6, Microsoft Exchange 2000, Oracle Collaboration Suite, and the Sun ONE Communications Platform, researchers determined the three-year average "loaded messaging and collaboration TCO," which includes the cost of the overall computing infrastructure (hardware and software) needed to support messaging.

Market Analyst and Consultant Genelle Hung says companies can use this information to benchmark operating costs and understand the financial impact of platforms and the full infrastructure typically required for each product.

The enterprise survey sample included 16 Global 1,000 companies that use systems from each of the four messaging vendors. The sample profile was made up of Global 1,000 corporations (88 percent) and government organizations (12 percent). The total interview sample consisted of four IBM customers, five Microsoft customers, four Oracle customers, and three Sun customers.

The cost information was gathered through the enterprise surveys and cross-checked with the four vendors.

The results? Within the enterprise market, the vendors rank as follows in loaded messaging and collaboration cost per user:

1. Oracle: US$194.94
2. Sun: $213.57
3. IBM: $406.56
4. Microsoft: $438.75

1. Oracle: $64.88
2. Sun: $96.42
3. IBM: $150.55
4. Microsoft: $221.42