Need Advice on using OWA vs. VPN

[kmccrary]

I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts on the benefits on using OWA 2k vs. VPN. What I am trying to accomplish is allow remote users to access their Outlook mainly and some file access (although it is not the priority) from any machine and have the most flexibility within Outlook. We really like the features in Outlook 2002 but OWA 2000 doesn't quite have all of the flexibility (understandibly) that Outlook 2002 does.

We also need to be able to download the Outlook to the remote users laptop so he/she can use their calendar when they are not connected to the network and then have them be able to synchronize their data when they return to the network (all remotely).

I would sure appreciate any suggestions or experiences with either/both options so I can make a better informed decision on which way to proceed.

As it is, I will have to migrate our Exchange 5.5 to Exchange 2000 if I use OWA, but may not have to migrate as soon if I use VPN. That is a big deal, but not nearly as important to me as making the right decision the first time.

Thanks a bunch.

Kim

 

[isguyatlanta]

We use both. Our traveling folks find that most locations they go to (Banks) do not allow VPN access from their networks, but they usually do allow HTTPS. So we have OWA (Exchange 2000) configured to run on port 443 (HTTPS) and we also have a Windows 2000 PPTP VPN for them to synchronize and access files.