Today, Microsoft released the fist public look into the new Exchange Server 2010 software. Part of Microsoft’s self titled “next wave” of Office products, Exchange Server 2010 will be “the first server designed from inception to work both on-premises and as an online service”, said Rajesh Jha, VP of Exchange at Microsoft.
The public beta version is available for download now, and is designed for public testing of its new features. This Exchange 2010 free beta download will be active for one year after downloading it. The full version of Exchange 2010 is expected to be released in the second half of 2009, with similar Office 2010 products following suit in the first half of 2010.
The main objectives of this new version of Exchange Server are reducing company costs, enhancing the user experience, and increasing communication security. Most cost savings will come from reduced IT spending for administration and managing of email systems. Exchange Server 2010 will also reduce storage costs by up to 85% through direct-attached storage.
Exchange Server 2010 will also enhance the user-level email experience with new features like MailTips, Voice Mail Preview, Ignore Conversation and Conversation View, and improved mobile and web access. The Conversation View tool will group related email messages, similar to what Google’s Gmail does already. You will also be able to “mute” runaway reply-all conversations with the Ignore Conversation tool. Voice Mail Preview generates written previews of new voice mails and makes them viewable right from Outlook. MailTips includes user protection warnings such aimed at preventing accidental, job e
nding “reply all” emails and security leaks by sending company emails to outside sources.
There are also back end administrator improvements that should be a big hit with IT departments. Improvements to moving mailboxes, remote management, and archiving top the list of new back end features.
Now the bottom line: will Exchange Server 2010 provide enough improvement to make it worth upgrading your license from Exchange Server 2007? Exchange Server 2010 does include quite a few improvements in regards to administration and management that should reduce the need for additinal 3rd party applications, saving you money and time. Responses from a few different sources around the web seem to agree, but you should download the beta version to a test server and decide for yourself.
