Microsoft today launched Exchange Server 2007 SP1 (beta 2) to those who are part of Microsoft's Developer Network or subscribe to the Microsoft's TechNet. According to Microsoft Service Pack 1 (SP1) is a community technology preview or CTP, ans is now feature complete with a final ship date of the last quarter this year. The latest release more closely ties Exchange Server closer to Microsoft's unified communications products, namely Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS 2007). OCS 2007 adds VoIP, voicemail, text-to-speech reading of email and more and is also scheduled for release sometime this year. I've actually been testing OCS 2007 beta with Exchange 2007 and OCS 2007 is probably the best product I've seen from Microsoft in years.In any event, Exchange 2007 SP1 will support Windows Server 2008 and a single subnet is no longer required for HA (high availability). IPv6 is supported only with Windows Server 2008. Also as part of this release, Microsoft added Standby Continuous Replication (SCR) so you can have a backup Exchange Server on standby and instantly switch over if the primary email server fails.
One of the biggest complaints by users was the removal of Public Folder access using OWA (Outlook Web Access). Well, have no fears, Microsoft has added that back in with Exchange 2007 SP1. Unfortunately, Exchange 2007 requires a 64-bit operating system, so for many users running Windows 2003 32-bit you won't be able to do an in-place upgrade.
ActiveSync in Exchange 2007 SP1 adds support for new ActiveSync policies for synchronization, authentication, and encryption and increased from 16 policies in Exchange 2007 (non-SP1) to 28 policies.
The Exchange ActiveSync Policy categories include:
- Device Control
- Network Control
- Application Control
- Sync Settings
- Authentication
- Encryption
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Its a shame you have to purchase Enterprise CAL's to use the added active sync policies.. Microsoft are getting greedy IMO.
Slightly unrelated, but I've recently started using Exclaimer to manage our email disclaimers - so far I have been really impressed with this tool - I highly recommend it.