Quest MessageStats 6.0 took home the Silver Award in SearchExchange.com's Reporting and Management category. Quest Software's reporting product received its best marks for performance, ease of integration, ease of use and support.

Judges were impressed by the product's versatility and customizable reports, which allow not just IT administrators, but also decision makers in any department to use it. For example, Exchange Server administrators can use Quest MessageStats 6.0 to analyze traffic, volume, capacity, uptime and inventory; and employ audit reports to isolate transport bottlenecks, tune operations and ensure availability. Human resources and legal auditors can use audit reports for investigations and to confirm compliance with corporate policy and external legislation.

"Administrators will find the built-in reports easy to use and managers will be able to make better decisions with this tool," said one judge, while also noting that the per-mailbox pricing model may "place it out of reach" for tight IT budgets.

Quest MessageStats 6.0 is built specifically for Microsoft platforms, so it easily installs on Windows servers. In addition, the architecture does not use agents, so deployment is simplified and does not place undue burden or bottlenecks on system performance. Quest MessageStats 6.0 also snaps into the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to provide administrators access to the product through a familiar interface.

Pricing: North American pricing for Quest MessageStats begins at $7.50 per managed mailbox.

SearchExchange.com editors