The Microsoft Exchange team conducted interviews with journalists in recent days to outline the roadmap for Exchange Server. Exchange has suffered from a series of flip-flops in direction over the past couple of years, but as it stands today, here’s what to expect.
2005 1Q … New Web Tools
Before the end of March, Microsoft will make available a number of analysis and troubleshooting tools via the Web for Exchange 2003. These include:
- A tool for sizing storage needs.
- A tool for troubleshooting SMTP mail configurations.
- A public folder usage analyzer.
- Integration of the recently released Best Practices Analyzer with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005.
2005 4Q … Exchange 2003 SP2
In the second half of 2003, Service Pack 2 for Exchange 2003 will be released. This will feature:
- Upgrades to the mobility capabilities of Exchange, for small device access
- Support for the Sender ID anti-spam capabilities. These were previously destined for Exchange Edge Services, which has now been dismembered.
- Enhancements to the management of and interfacing to public folders.
2007 … Exchange 2007 (“E12”)
Although Microsoft would not specify the date, I’m pegging that the “Exchange 12” product will ship in 1Q 2007. Exchange will continue to be one of the communication and collaboration servers from Microsoft. The following capabilities will be included in E12:
- The same JET database, albeit with some improvements, such as continuous backup
- New scripting and user interface upgrades.
- Improved search capabilities.
- Unified messaging capabilities, for the integration of voice and fax into Exchange.
- A wizard to simply the configuration of Exchange into one of six roles: bridgehead, edge server, mailbox server, client access server, unified messaging server, or a legacy server for public folders. This will be useful for large deployments.
- Support for Web services, such as WSDL.
- Support for the 64-bit Longhorn Server. Longhorn Server will not be required, nor will Exchange 12 be optimized for it.
- Policy compliance capabilities.
- Better integrated meeting scheduling capabilities, such as the ability to integrate a user’s calendar with schedules for conference rooms.
2011 … “Exchange 13” with WinFS
The long term goal is to replace the JET data store with the new WinFS unified data store. I’m forecasting that “Exchange 13 with WinFS” support will be a 2011 deliverable.
Analysis
Some thoughts:
- It is good that Microsoft has a roadmap for Exchange … customers and business partners need to know where the product is going. Now they need to keep to it. It is disappointing that there is no formal statement on the Microsoft site about this roadmap, however, and that the world at large was notified via third party articles.
- Business partners appear to feel some degree of shame about this product. Look at the two referenced in the CRN story below … neither gives a name, and their commentary is less than positive for Microsoft. At that the end of the day, it’s the business partner community that was sold by Microsoft on a grand vision for Exchange as a collaboration platform, and they in turn on-sold those ideas to customers, and now they can’t deliver. That’s very bad for being seen by customers as a business partner with integrity.
- Microsoft’s policy of using year numbers to distinguish versions stops this product from being called what it is. Exchange 2000 was a big deal, so would have been Exchange 6. Exchange 2003 tweaked that version, so could have been Exchange 6.1, and then this new E12 deliverable could have been a 6.2 or 6.5 release. As I said last month, the product is mature, and there are only tweaks around the edges (“improved” search, “simplification” wizard, “support for” Longhorn, “better” capabilities, yadda yadda yadda).
More Information
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eWeek
Microsoft Watch
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