Communications

Exchange 2007 and Outlook 2007, released Dec. 2006, start a major upgrade to Microsoft’s communication product line. Exchange 2007 delivers unified messaging capabilities, which combine voice mail and e-mail into a single inbox, and ships in a more modular architecture with a completely new, scriptable administrative interface to simplify management and improve scalability. A planned mid-2007 release of Microsoft’s Communication Server product for instant messaging, presence, voice, and Web conferencing will complete Microsoft’s communications platform.

Exchange and Outlook

Exchange Server and the Outlook client provide e-mail and personal information management functions, including calendar, contact, and task management. Exchange competitors include Domino/Notes, IBM Lotus, and Novell GroupWise. (For a graphical overview of recent and upcoming Exchange and Outlook releases, see the illustration “Exchange and Outlook Overview“.) Microsoft offers an e-mail security, antispam, and archiving service, which is named Exchange Hosted Services, although the service works with any Internet e-mail system, not just Exchange.