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September 2006 Exchange 2007 (aka Exchange 12) is really an extension of the roadmap that Microsoft has had for Exchange for some time. In 2005, Microsoft came out with SP2 for Exchange 2003 which was quite an enhancement. Many people thought it was more of a Feature Pack than a service pack. They also came out with the ExBPA and additional other tools for managing Public Folders, etc. Microsoft also purchased FrontBridge and Sybari for hosted Exchange solutions and anti-virus. In Mid 2006 Exchange 12 Beta was released and in late 2006/early 2007 Exchange 12 will be released. While in development, Microsoft chose three "themes" that they would use to categorize version enhancements they wanted to include: Control, Anywhere Access and Built-in Protection. Control
Under the control theme they are putting emphasis on server role-based deployment, enhancing the Exchange System Manager, introducing native 64-bit, enhancing the Exchange Management Shell and enhancing local and clustered replication. Exchange 12 introduces five roles that the server can perform perform. By selecting a role it eases post-installation and configuration tasks. There is the Edge Transport role, Hub Transport, Unified Messaging, Mailbox and Client Access roles. Some or all of these roles may be performed by one server. The System Manager maintains the standard look and feel of the Exchange 2003 System Manager MMC. It minimizes the "white space" that was common in the 2003 MMC and also simplifies the tree structure. One of the features that it standardizes is the ability to double-click objects to view the properties of that object. As will be common to all of the next generation server software, Exchange 2007 will be 64-bit. This allows for better stability and functionality while also optimizing the performance. Anywhere Access
In response to the increase in mobilization, Microsoft is putting a big focus on information worker productivity. The latest version of Outlook Web Access (OWA) is said to look and have almost all of the functionality of Microsoft Outlook. Unified messaging has also taken a big step with integration with voice access and auto-attendant. There are also new calendaring features - calendaring Attendant, Resource booking attendant and a scheduling assistant. Built-in Protection
Something that many administrators have been waiting for is more built-in protection out of the box with Exchange for SPAM and anti-virus protection. In Exchange 2007, Microsoft is taking a multi-prong approach. There will be protection at the connection, sender, recipient and content levels using automated SmartScreen filter updates for SPAM. For anti-virus protection there will be attachment filtering and a new API for anti-virus as well as support for the 2003 VSAPI. This article provides just a quick overview of some of the features of Exchange 2007. More information on Exchange 2007 can be found on Microsoft's website at www.microsoft.com/exchange/preview. This article may be republished freely providing proper acknowledgment is given to Nathaniel Fisher as the author. The following bio of the author must be included in all publication. www.fidelitynetworks.com Nathaniel Fisher is the President and Senior Consultant at Fidelity Networks and Development. Fidelity was founded in 2000 and is based in South Florida specializing in networking infrastructure, computer support, and custom application development. Nathaniel has been in the IT industry for over 10 years. Fidelity Networks and Development. |
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