Exchange 12, the next major update for Microsoft’s e-mail and collaboration server, is due in 2006. Exchange 12 will deliver unified messaging (which combines e-mail with voice mail and fax services), integrated antivirus support, a more modular architecture to improve security and scalability, and a new set of Web services APIs for developers. Outlook will be updated around the same time, but its feature set has not been announced.

Some Exchange updates are due before Exchange 12. In particular, Exchange 2003 SP2, due in the second half of 2005, will update the product’s antispam capabilities and deliver some improvements for mobile devices. A variety of free tools will also be released in 2005, such as a new version of the Exchange Best Practices Analyzer tool for evaluating Exchange security configurations.

Microsoft has dropped plans for Exchange Edge Services, an Internet e-mail filtering and routing product originally slated for 2005. Instead, Exchange 12 will enable companies to set up dedicated Exchange servers that perform the same functions as were planned for Edge Services.