Microsoft Ships 'E-12' Code, Ajax RTC Client

A broader Beta 2 of “E-12” is due in mid-2006, with final code expected late that year or early the next, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft said. When it ships, the product could capitalize on the planned concurrent rollout of Office 12. E-12 has “robust integration with those tools,” said Ken Winell, CTO of VisAlign, a King of Prussia, Pa., solution provider.

Microsoft&'s retreat from a new message store based on relational technology still rankles some although the company maintains that the evolving Jet engine is plenty robust and E-12&'s reliance on 64-bit technology loosens some storage constraints.

One partner was pragmatic: “Microsoft has been promising a switch to a SQL store for so long nobody believes it anymore anyway.”

The beta is not feature-complete but will focus on role-based modules, “unified messaging” to bring voice mail and fax to an inbox near you, and improved security and compliance, said Jeff Ressler, director of product planning for Exchange Server.

A new graphical system manager promises to reduce nesting and streamline filtering while a new command-line interface, based on Windows Monad, will ease realtime management, Ressler said.

Mobile users without a smartphone or PDA will be able to access messages over regular phones and have e-mail read to them, he said.

The new Office Communicator Web Access, paired with Live Communications Server 2005, will let non-Windows users stay in touch with their colleagues via instant messaging.

VARs can embed Ajax controls into other apps, “a big opportunity,” said Gurdeep Singh Pall, Microsoft&'s corporate vice president.