ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 24, 2004 — One year after the release of Microsoft
®
Exchange Server 2003, Dave Thompson, corporate vice president of the Exchange Server Product Group at Microsoft Corp., highlighted the product’s success in his keynote address at the Microsoft Exchange Connection here. Speaking to a sold-out audience of information technology (IT) professionals, Thompson thanked customers and partners for their support over the past year. With Exchange Server 2003, IT professionals are experiencing impressive cost savings associated with ease of management, improved support for mobile users, better security, server consolidation and increased uptime in their organizations. In addition, partners have benefited from the new business opportunities derived from customer demand for Exchange Server 2003.
“Exchange Server 2003 is experiencing broad adoption; over 55 percent more licenses have been sold for this version of Exchange than for the previous version in the same period,” Thompson said. “With all these improvements, we had high hopes for this version of Exchange, so we’re very pleased to see it has now surpassed our expectations with over 20 percent growth in revenue.”
Thompson also highlighted Microsoft’s continued investment in tools and technologies for Exchange Server 2003 to enhance customers’ ability to manage Exchange, filter spam and analyze the health of their Exchange environments. These investments from Microsoft include Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 1, Intelligent Message Filter, Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer and the licensing of Exchange Server 2003 ActiveSync®
protocol to third-party mobility vendor palmOne Inc.
In addition, Exchange Server 2003 is experiencing a record-breaking number of customer evaluations, with more than 175,000 requests. According to The Radicati Group, the installed base of Exchange Server 2003 is projected to grow nearly 300 percent over the next year and will overtake all other versions of Exchange Server by the end of 2005.
Easing Management for Customers, Creating Opportunities for Partners
Exchange Server 2003 simplifies the time-consuming tasks of managing a messaging system, thereby helping IT professionals become more productive in their organizations. Window and door manufacturer Pella Corp. serves customers in every major city in the United States and Canada. Using Exchange Server 2003, Pella’s IT administrators are able to more efficiently manage the entire network.
“With Exchange Server 2003, we were able to consolidate our 16 servers down to just four servers supporting 3,300 mailboxes,” said Jim Thomas, senior systems business manager at Pella. “Clearly, reducing the number of servers by a factor of four is a major benefit for our organization. In addition, we’ve experienced 100 percent uptime running Exchange Server 2003.”
Partner support is at an all-time high with Exchange Server 2003. This strong partner ecosystem of tens of thousands of independent software vendors, original equipment manufacturers and systems integrators provides services and applications that expand the benefits of Exchange Server. A broad range of solutions are offered by these partners, including anti-virus, anti-spam, archiving and compliance, and backup and storage management, to name a few.
“We’re seeing an enormous increase in our Exchange business. In fact, Exchange is the fastest-growing segment for Quest’s Windows Management group this year,” said Aggie Haslup, vice president of product management and marketing, Windows Management, at Quest Software Inc. “Quest offers a full line of software solutions to help our customers move to and make the most of Exchange 2003. We look forward to continuing to bring to market solutions for Exchange to help customers with server consolidation, cost-efficient migration and simplified Exchange management.”
High Demand for Training
Over the past year, more than 31,000 IT professionals worldwide have participated in more than 100 Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 classes, workshops and seminars. IT professionals also are taking advantage of flexible training options from Microsoft and its partners such as eLearning courses for upgrading from Exchange Server 5.5, and implementing and managing Exchange Server 2003.
About Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System (TM) is a comprehensive family of server software providing the infrastructure for IT operations, application development, integration and information work. Built on the Windows Server (TM) operating system, and designed with Common Engineering Criteria, Windows Server System is focused on making it easier for IT professionals to connect and manage their IT environment. Because Windows Server System products are integrated for enhanced manageability and security, they help organizations reduce complexity and lower costs. All Windows Server System products support open industry standards including those based on XML to promote interoperability with other platforms. More information on Windows Server System can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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