Exchange 5.5 Support Extended

Making a special exception to its support life-cycle policy, Microsoft will waive the hefty “non-security-related hotfix” fees for the first year of Exchange 5.5’s “extended support” period, due to begin Jan. 1, 2004. This move gives the large percentage of Exchange customers who still have not upgraded from the older product more time to migrate to a newer version without risking the chance that they might not be able to obtain a fix for a critical bug.

More Breathing Room

Microsoft’s standard life-cycle policy put Exchange 5.5 customers in the position of either paying a US$30,000 extended support fee no later than Apr. 2004 or foregoing hotfixes for any non-security-related problems they might encounter after Jan. 1, 2004. Although Exchange 5.5 is on its fourth service pack and the product is mature enough that the probability of new show-stopping bugs and other incompatibilities is low, many customers felt uncomfortable taking this risk.

Because so many Exchange customers were in this predicament, Microsoft has made an exception to the extended support terms for Exchange 5.5 and announced it will waive the extended support fees for the first year of extended support. However, customers still need a Product Support Services (PSS) contract or must pay for per-incident support to receive non-security hotfix support. Furthermore, from Jan.1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2005, the normal extended support fees will still apply.