Sun has reported that according to data recently published by IT industry analyst The Radicati Group, the total cost of ownership of the Sun Java Communications Suite is less than one-quarter the total cost of ownership of Microsoft Exchange 2003.

The Java Communications Suite, which is a subset of Sun's Java Enterprise Server (JES), is a subscription-based product available to companies at a rate of $50 per employee per year. TCO for the suite is approximately $73 per year, according to the Radicati Group report, compared to approximately $317 per year for Microsoft Exchange.

".As electronic communication has become the engine of business, there are more challenges than ever to keep it humming--overflowing in-boxes, security risks, potential disruptions due to spam and viruses, and industry regulations. Of course, IT managers must face these problems while keeping costs under control," Sun said in citing the report's figures. 

Sun also says that The Radicati Group study concluded that, because of the scalability and performance of the Sun Java Communications Suite, a Sun server, on average, "can support over 26 times more users than an Exchange 2003 server. This enables organizations to dramatically consolidate their messaging and collaboration infrastructure ... thereby reducing acquisition, maintenance and administration costs substantially."

The Sun Java Communications Suite provides e-mail and message management, calendaring and group scheduling, time and resource management, and real-time collaboration services. A subset of the integrated Sun Java Enterprise System, the Java Communications Suite includes:

• Sun Java System Messaging Server
• Sun Java System Calendar Server
• Sun Java System Instant Messaging
• Sun Java System Connector for Microsoft Outlook
• Sun Java System Communications Express
• Sun Java System Communications Sync