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Microsoft Readying Exchange Tools and Service Pack for 2005

The centerpiece of Microsoft's 2005 Exchange Server delivery schedule, Exchange Edge Services 2005, is officially off the roadmap, but Microsoft this week provided a laundry list of new deliverables this year for the messaging server's customers.

Microsoft plans to create several tools for release over the Web, much as it released the Best Practices Analyzer for Exchange in 2004. The Web releases will include:

  • a storage sizing assistant,
  • an SMTP configuration diagnosis tool,
  • public folder usage and analysis tools
  • and integration of the Best Practices Analyzer with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005.

    Those tools come on top of Microsoft's previously announced plan to release Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2003. In announcing in December that Edge Services wasn't coming in 2005, Microsoft said the SenderID Framework part of the perimeter messaging security toolset would come with SP2 in the second half. The rest of the Edge Services functionality, with additional messaging policy capabilities, is currently set for inclusion in the follow-on version of Exchange, code-named "Exchange 12."

    This week, Microsoft outlined some other feature areas being worked on in SP2 -- mobility, anti-spam and an improved public folder management and interface.

    • About the Author

    Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.