ISA Server Update Gates Exchange

A free feature pack is available to organizations running Microsoft’s Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000. This pack adds a bundle of new features to Microsoft’s firewall and content caching product, with the most significant ones aimed primarily at providing new ways of securing access to Exchange Servers from the Internet.

(For details on ISA Server, see “ISA Server Steps onto Internet” on page 11 of the Apr. 2001 Update and “Comet Becomes Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000” on page 9 of the July 2000 Update.)

Internet Access to Exchange

Available now, ISA Feature Pack 1 makes it possible for ordinary Outlook clients to securely connect to Exchange servers located behind ISA Server firewalls. Prior to this Feature Pack, home-based and traveling users had to do one of the following:

• Use Outlook Web Access (OWA), Exchange’s Web-based client, but suffer OWA’s reduced performance and functionality
• Connect from Outlook or Outlook Express using a simple mailreader