ATLANTA, Oct. 4, 1999 — Today at the fourth annual Microsoft® Exchange Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server beta 3, the message and collaboration server previously code-named
“Platinum.”
Beta 3, a prerelease version of the product designed for testing and evaluation by customers and partners, will be distributed to conference attendees and will be publicly available from the Microsoft Web site in English, German, French and Japanese versions today. Exchange 2000 is the reliable, easy-to-manage platform for messaging and collaboration that brings users and knowledge together. It provides an enhanced platform for messaging and collaboration, increased knowledge worker productivity with Microsoft’s new Web Store technology, and access to people and information at any time, from anywhere.
“Knowledge workers are a company’s most important asset,”
said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Business Productivity Group.
“Exchange 2000 is a cornerstone in Microsoft’s knowledge management platform, providing powerful messaging and collaboration services for accessing and sharing information across an enterprise and its key constituencies, such as customers and partners.”
Enhancements in Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
The three design goals driving Exchange 2000 are to provide a reliable, scalable, manageable infrastructure that enables 24×7 messaging and collaboration with low total cost of ownership; provide the richest environment for integrating business process with Web-based collaboration and applications, thereby increasing knowledge worker productivity; and provide knowledge workers with access to the people and knowledge they need at any time, from anywhere.
Exchange 2000 advances the state of the art in messaging and collaboration by enhancing overall platform reliability, scalability and performance, while lowering the cost of ownership through easier administration and the tightest possible integration with the Windows® 2000 operating system and Office 2000 desktop productivity suite. Exchange 2000 also works seamlessly with Outlook® 2000, the world’s leading messaging and collaboration client, to connect, communicate and share information with others. The first product to include Microsoft’s new Web Store technology, Exchange 2000 provides a single point of management and collaboration for the knowledge stored and shared through e-mail, documents, the Web and business applications. The beta 3 version of Exchange 2000 also establishes a foundation for new forms of collaboration, such as real-time data conferencing and instant messaging, giving knowledge workers the ability to access and share information across geographic, organizational and technology barriers.
Exchange 2000 includes these features:
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A reliable, scalable, manageable infrastructure that enables 24×7 messaging and collaboration with low total cost of ownership
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Integration with the Windows 2000 Active Directory TM directory service, Microsoft Management Console and Windows 2000 security, enabling secure, single-seat management of all network and messaging resources
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Multiple message databases to increase reliability and reduce restore time after hardware failure
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Four-way active/active clustering with Windows 2000 load balancing and failover services, for enhanced system reliability and end-user availability
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Fault-tolerant SMTP routing as a full peer to X.400, providing high-performance routing and tight Internet integration
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Distributed configuration for scalability to millions of users for hosted services such as Internet service providers (ISPs) and application service providers (ASPs)
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The richest environment for integrating business process with Web-based collaboration and applications
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Easy access to e-mail, documents, Web pages and business applications from a wide variety of client software
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Seamless Office 2000 integration through saving with Save/Read capability using native dialog boxes, for a consistent, centralized work environment
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Support for Outlook 2000 Team Folder Wizard, a new knowledge worker tool for Office 2000 users
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Integrated content indexing and search, enabling high-speed, accurate, full-text search across a broad set of content
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Leading support for the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and other Web standards, enabling high-performance Web interaction
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Complete application platform for high-performance, Web-enabled business and workflow applications
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Any time, anywhere access to the information users want, when they want it
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Enhanced Outlook Web Access browser client, with improved performance, scalability, simple programmability and usability
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Easy access to shared information, such as Outlook 2000 contact lists or calendars, published in public folders
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Built-in data conferencing and application sharing using the industry-standard T.120 protocol for real-time collaboration
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Multicast videoconferencing services for user-friendly scheduling and administration of geographically separated conferences using Microsoft Outlook
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Instant messaging and presence information, enabling immediate transmission of messages, opening up new avenues for collaboration and business responsiveness
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An enhanced unified messaging platform, with support for the Voice Profile for Internet Mail (VPIM) standard, streaming data and built-in voice forms
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Conference Management Services, to provide a consistent user experience and administration services for conferencing software including third-party vendor software
The Exchange 2000 team has worked with customers throughout the Exchange 2000 development process to form a joint development partnership to evaluate and provide feedback on the product.
“The Platinum JDP has proven to be an extremely positive experience, providing my team with the opportunity to learn about Exchange 2000 while at the same time have significant impact on the product’s design,”
said Jeffrey Andersen, Messaging Services manager for J.D. Edwards.
“Exchange 2000 and the digital dashboard we are creating with Microsoft tools will allow us to integrate our messaging and knowledge management efforts, resulting in a seamless end-user experience. We are excited about Exchange 2000 also being the basis for many of our future collaborative efforts and applications.”
Exchange 2000 Shows Continued Momentum for Knowledge Management Strategy
Exchange 2000 will play a key role in Microsoft’s knowledge management vision, announced earlier this year at Tech · Ed 99. At that event, Microsoft announced four knowledge management initiatives to meet the needs of the 21st century knowledge worker: digital dashboards to deliver the right information to knowledge workers at the right time; Web Store technology that opens applications to knowledge of all kinds; mobility and wireless solutions to provide access to information any time, anywhere; and intelligent interfaces to revolutionize the way people work. In support of Microsoft’s knowledge worker vision, Exchange 2000 Server provides the messaging and collaboration services for digital dashboards, is the first product to include Web Store technology, and offers a high-performance, standards-based information server for wireless and device access.
Exchange 2000 Beta 3 Release to Be Available to Hundreds of Thousands of Users
Exchange 2000 beta 3 will be available in Corporate Preview Program kits that will be distributed to attendees at the Exchange conferences in Atlanta, Hamburg, Germany, Singapore and Tokyo; it will also be available as a free download* and as an orderable package from the Microsoft Web site for a nominal package and handling fee. Exchange 2000 beta 3 will also be available through TechNet and the Microsoft Technical Beta program. The Corporate Preview CD will also include Windows 2000 Release Candidate 2, the Outlook 2000 messaging and collaboration client, technical documentation and sample Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) to give IT professionals experienced with Exchange Server 5.5 the skills to deploy Outlook Web Access in Exchange 2000.
About Microsoft
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