First Greenwich Beta Released

Microsoft has released the first beta of the product code-named Greenwich, a set of Windows server components and associated APIs for real-time communication, such as instant messaging, to technical beta testers.

Although Greenwich is envisioned as an optional add-on to Windows Server 2003, it will ship on a separate schedule and is slated for release in the middle of 2003. Pricing or packaging has not yet been determined-the product could be a free add-on, but early indications suggest that Microsoft will require organizations to pay for the server component, buy a Client Access License (CAL) for each user accessing it, or both.

Greenwich replaces Exchange IM, which is being eliminated with Exchange 2003 (also expected in the middle of 2003). However, unlike Exchange IM, which worked with some versions of the MSN Messenger client, Greenwich will work only with Windows Messenger. In turn, Windows Messenger requires a set of real-time communication (RTC) APIs that are only available in Windows XP. This means that organizations will have to upgrade their desktops to Windows XP to use Greenwich.