Exchange Server problems - Please chip in

[Magicthyse]

I have a problem, which I discussed here some time ago - but I'll approach it from a different angle this time. I'll tell you the facts, and if you can chip in with any suggestions, it'll be much appreciated.

Scenario: Server is in Europe. Server is running Exchange Server 2000 - fully patched up, behind TWO firewalls from different manufacturers.

User travels all over the world. User uses VPN to log onto Exchange Server and use Outlook. User has been a happy bunny - until now, when User is in Australia.

Australia is the big problem. We're getting incredible ping times (700-1000ms!!) and VPN is unusably slow. Outlook Web Access doesn't do what User wants - he wants Outlook. User is already on a 1Meg cable connection in Aus.

What the heck can we do?

Open access to email is not an ideal option, and I'm wary about deploying another Exchange Server in Australia and syncing between the two Exchange Servers, simply because I don't believe that we can manage the Aus. servers properly (and it's a huge expense).

Suggestions? (As long as it's not "Switch to Linux") Much appreciated.

For those of you not familiar with Exchange Server, it offers more functionality than email - just thought I'd mention that if you were thinking about saying use a different email server.

 

[bozo1]

I've had similar problems with Australia.

If you have a 1Mb connection, I would be after the vendor to fix your problems. 1000ms ping times mean there is definitely a problem.

You can have the user connect via POP3 which will eliminate all of the chit-chat that MAPI clients have with Exchange, but he may lose things he wants - shared calander stuff, public folders, etc.

I think you need to either have your vendor fix your link or just have the users deal with OWA if you don't want to put an Exchange server down there.


Edit: Ahh, wait a minute. He's a cable user! I was thinking you had a 1MB frame-relay connection. I don't think you have any solution here except OWA or using POP3/IMAP connectivity. Outlook just does too much chatting to work over a connection like that.
In my situation, I put a server down there and used the x:400 connector which is much more forgiving as far as bandwidth and ping times go than the site connector.