1.10. Defining Organizational Types

So what type of an organization are you? Are you a large multinational with branch offices in several countries or are you based in a single location, like a call center? Do your offices connect using dial-up links or are they provided with high bandwidth permanent connections? Do you administer your company from one location or is each major branch office responsible for managing Exchange 2000? Your organization type will define your Exchange administrative and networking models and will ultimately affect the way in which you implement Exchange 2000.

To help classify organizations for messaging purposes, we have developed a system that should help you identify with a specific organizational type. This classification system looks at the number of employees, their distribution, the speed and type of the WAN links (if any), how the company is administered, how the company is supported, and the overall organizational structure. After you have selected an organizational type, you can then relate that type to the administrative and networking models for Exchange 2000 discussed in the Exchange 2000 Upgrade Series Chapters.