SearchExchange.com's Silver Award for Backup and Recovery goes to Quest Software Inc.'s Quest Recovery Manager for Microsoft Exchange 4.0.

Judges gave Quest Recovery Manager for Exchange 4.0 high marks for ease of use and ease of integration. They specifically praised the product's use of automatic backups -- not routines -- for backing up individual message-level items, including email, appointments, tasks, contacts and attachments. Additionally, judges appreciated its ability to perform automatic backups from Exchange Server backup media and unmounted .edb information stores without setting up a dedicated Exchange recovery server.

"Quest Recovery Manager addresses a need in this space -- how to read previously backed up Exchange Server databases without having to mount them," said one judge. "Only a few products can do this."

Quest Recovery Manager for Exchange 4.0 scored extra points for its ability to directly process database files for all versions of Exchange Server -- Exchange 5.5, Exchange Server 2000, Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 -- which reduces recovery time.

Pricing: North American pricing begins at $8 per managed mailbox.

SearchExchange.com editors