Outlook Web Access

Outlook Web Access (OWA) is an Outlook 2000 look-alike that runs on an Exchange 2000/WWS server and displays e-mail and calendar information in a Web browser. OWA is a strategic application for Exchange. Microsoft will rely on variations of this technology to deliver information from an Exchange server to a variety of remote devices, such as cell phones and palm-sized PCs. OWA has been overhauled since Exchange 5.5 to provide dramatically better performance than its predecessor. In addition to providing a solid, Web-based messaging/calendar client, OWA offers a preview of Microsoft’s plans for delivering desktop applications, such as those in the Office 2000 suite, from a Web server.

OWA demonstrates a “thin client/Web application server” architecture in which the application does not run on the client machine, either desktop or laptop; instead, it runs on a Web application server in the data center. The user requires only a Web browser to access the information. Microsoft must master this architecture to be successful in selling products such as Microsoft Office through application service providers (ASPs).