Microsoft prepares to ship new corporate IM server
65494
OCTOBER 26, 2004 (IDG NEWS SERVICE) - A little over a year after introducing the first version of Office Live Communications Server, Microsoft Corp.
366599
A little over a year after introducing the first version of Office Live Communications Server, Microsoft says it plans to release the next version of its enterprise instant messaging software, in December.
754677
(InfoWorld) - Windows VistaÂ isn't the only recently released Microsoft software that will give users headaches when they upgrade their systems. Corporate users, partners, and analysts said upgrading to Exchange Server 2007 from previous versions also may be a lengthy and painful process for companies, which may want to take a wait-and-see approach to the new software. New hardware requirements, incompatibilities with other Microsoft software, and the complexity of the product's new architecture are just a few of the issues that will make a move to Exchange 2007 from Exchange 2003 or earlier versions costly and difficult for IT administrators, said Microsoft partners and analysts. "There are about 6,000 pages of documentation that an IT administrator will have to wade through to deploy [Exchange Server 2007], said Keith McCall, a former Exchange director at Microsoft and now chief technology officer and founder of Azaleos, which offers an Exchange Server appliance and turnkey product. You need to think hard, and you need to plan your server infrastructure to add the value and new functionality of Exchange 2007." Exchange 2007 is the first major update since Exchange 2003, and it is the first version of the software that runs only on 64-bit servers. Previously, Exchange ran on 32-bit servers, so customers will not be able to just switch out their current version of Exchange to a new one. They will be required to update the hardware. To its credit, Microsoft alerted customers in November 2005 that this would be the case. But the 64-bit transition is not the only hardware headache associated with upgrading to Exchange 2007, McCall said. Because of the various server "roles" Microsoft has introduced for Exchange Server 2007, the software can no longer be set up for high availability on two servers -- one for the roles and one for failover, he said. There are five different server roles for Exchange 2007 -- mailbox, client access, unified messaging, routing and hub transport, and edge transport, which filters e-mail before it hits the mail store. "If you want to run all of the three primary Exchange 2007 roles (mailbox server, hub transport, and client access) with high availability, you need at least four servers, twice as many as you needed in Exchange 2003," he said. "If you want to add the unified message and edge transport roles, you need six servers." If you don't want high availability, you can run all the roles of Exchange Server 2007 on one server, except for the edge transport server, which requires its own, according to Jeff Ressler, director of the Exchange Server Group at Microsoft. He said Microsoft created Exchange 2007 with these new roles clearly defined because it is easier for administrators to proactively choose which role they want Exchange to play in a network. Previously, they had to go in and turn off the roles they didn't want. "In the new world, you would choose, 'I want that to be a client access server,' and just install those components," Ressler said. Hardware is not the only pain point for customers upgrading to the new version of Exchange. Duncan Greatwood, CEO of PostPath, in Mountain View, Calif., said there are some incompatibilities between Exchange Server 2007 and Windows Vista, the new version of Windows that was released to business customers in November and to consumers earlier this week. PostPath has a mail and messaging server that runs on Linux and can connect seamlessly with Exchange Servers on a network. A key problem is that the management tools for Exchange Server 2007 don't run on Vista, Greatwood said. Typically, an IT administrator will deploy Exchange and its management tools on a server and then deploy the tools on his or her own desktop machine so the server can be maintained from there, he said. However, if an administrator's desktop is running Vista, that desktop can't run the tools, Greatwood said. PostPath developed its software by figuring out Exchange's proprietary network protocols and building them into its product to enable the migration, Greatwood said. Microsoft also licenses some of Exchange's networking protocols to third parties, Ressler said. "If you have an Outlook desktop, in a completely unmodified way you can use PostPath just like Exchange," Greatwood said. "Outlook doesn't know it's talking to PostPath; it thinks it's talking to Exchange." For some companies, this could be a good alternative if they don't want to undertake the task of upgrading to Exchange Server 2007, said Maurene Grey, founder, and principal analyst of Grey Consulting. She said the move from Exchange 2003, which many people are running, to Exchange 2007 is the same as the leap from Exchange 5.5 to 2000, when Microsoft made a similar overhaul in the product's architecture. For some companies that are diehard Microsoft loyalists, however, the question of upgrading to Exchange Server 2007 is not one of if but when, Grey said. "When an organization made their last major upgrade will determine to a great extent when they'll make this upgrade," she said. "If a company just spent $2 million two years ago to upgrade from 5.5 to 2003, the CFO isn't going to be that eager to give them the money to make this upgrade."
753304
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is adding its considerable weight to the growing Internet-based communications market, introducing an addition to the Office Live Communications Server (LCS) that promises to integrate messaging, telephony and PC-based voice and video applications.
137087
A select group of testers next week will get an early look at MSN Messenger 7.0, the next version of Microsoft&#39;s popular instant messaging client.
33009
Microsoft has provided beta testers with Release Candidates for Office Live Communications Server 2005 (LCS 2005) and Windows Messenger 5.1. This distribution marks the software's first major milestone since Microsoft publicly announced the opening of the beta program in May.
13170
Microsoft Corp. has released the second beta of a new server aimed at giving users a way to connect and manage Windows Vista PCs, devices and printers in their homes.
248725
Late Wednesday, Microsoft announced three updated MSN services that are designed to make email, instant messaging (IM) and online sharing more integrated experiences.
583715
Organizations frequently pick a corporate-grade IM system -- IBM Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing, Jabber Messenger, or Microsoft LCS (Live Communications Server), for example -- thinking that internal-only IM is immune from threats.Â
338327
Microsoft announced today that they were rolling out a new set of tools under the âMid-Market Netware Migration Programâ banner, aimed at convincing existing NetWare clients to move to Windows Server 2003 instead of Linux.
195615
Microsoft&#39;s main Windows server administration console is slated for release by the beginning of October and will be in a planned management suite next year.
27433
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft's goal to provide a unified communications infrastructure for the enterprise moved forward Tuesday with the release of a private beta of software it sees as its communications hub. The company released Office Communications Server 2007 to about 2,500 IT professionals in a private beta, said Paul Duffy, a group product manager at Microsoft. It's the first time Microsoft has offered software for making voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) part of integrated communications services alongside corporate instant messaging, e-mail, and video conferencing all running on one IP network, he said. Office Communications Server 2007 runs in conjunction with Office Communicator 2007, which is the accompanying desktop software. In July, Microsoft announced aÂ strategic alliance with Nortel NetworksÂ calling for interoperability between Microsoft communications software and networking infrastructure from Nortel. Office Communications Server 2007 also will interoperate with products from Avaya, NEC Phillips, and Siemens CommunicationsÂ through partnerships Microsoft has with those vendors, Duffy said. "Customers can deploy Office Communications Server and Communicator with infrastructure they have -- with IP telephony that they might have from one of those vendors -- or they can deploy it in conjunction with an IP PSTN (public switched telephone network) gateway," he said. Though Microsoft is working with vendors on VOIP, there is some belief in the industry that the company eventually will look to provide the entire software infrastructure for VOIP and other communications offerings. Such a move would hardly be a stretch, as Microsoft's strategy for entering new markets has often been to partner with companies that specialize in certain software until it is able to build out its own portfolio. Microsoft does not just aim to enter the VOIP-enablement market with Office Communications Server 2007, but rather provide a software hub that will allow the various facets of network communication to interoperate, Duffy said. For instance, by using Office Communications Server with Microsoft's Exchange Server messaging software and Outlook e-mail client, a user can respond to an e-mail received in Exchange with a VOIP call using Communications Server and Communicator, he said. Office Communications Server and Office Communicator 2007 are expected to be available in the second calendar quarter of 2007.
405123
Microsoft Corp. announced plans Tuesday to acquire a company whose software aims to protect corporate networks from e-mail borne threats and said it would sell a product based on the technology.
307900
Get a close-up look at Microsoft's new consumer server.
520011
With Live Earth now less than two weeks away, Microsoft's MSN division is preparing itself for what will be one of the largest streaming events in the history of the Internet.
301245
After two years of fits and starts, Microsoft will finally deliver its Virtual Server 2005 product, which company officials contend will be an important contributor to its Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), the company&#39;s plan for managing distributed
646186
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft plans to offer a few more details Tuesday on the upcoming version of its hosted Web conferencing offering, Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007. The updated software will have a new user interface and allow users to share media files. In addition, users will be able to participate in conferences over either VOIP (voice over IP Internet Protocol) or regular telephones. In Live Meeting 2005, the meeting presenter could choose to either let participants call in using landline phones or listen only via Internet audio. Live Meeting 2007 users conducting training events will also have access to expanded testing and grading functions. The updated service will hit the market in the third quarter, around the same time that theÂ Office Communications Server 2007, with its Web conferencing capabilities, will also become widely available. That's a bit behind schedule. Last year, Microsoft said it was hoping to ship these products in the second quarter of 2007. When the products are both out, users of Live Meeting and the Office Communications Server can participate in the same conference. Both types of users will see the same Web interface and have the same experience, said Roger Muff, director of marketing for Microsoft's unified communications group. "The fact that we're making Web conferencing available... through a server as well as Live Meeting is a good example of software plus services in action," he said. Customers choose the service or the server-based offerings for different reasons, he said. An IT manager might decide to use Live Meeting because it's a service that includes support. "IT pros are spread ever more thin," he noted. Because Live Meeting is hosted and includes support, it's one less service an IT professional has to manage. Other companies may choose the Communications Server because they'd prefer to keep sensitive company documents internal within the corporate firewall, rather than out on the Internet. Enterprises may instead choose Live Meeting for the opposite reason--because keeping documents on an Internet-based service may satisfy certain regulations around publicly sharing documents, he said. In addition, meeting size may determine which product a company wants. Live Meeting can support thousands of participants while Communications Server supports hundreds.