TCO: Name Of The Game In E-Mail

The next version of Microsoft Exchange Server, due next year, is dedicated to cutting total cost of ownership (TCO) via server consolidation and by blurring the line between online and offline use, said Exchange Group Product Manager Chris Baker.

Some of these features will be previewed in Anaheim, Calif., this week at the Microsoft Exchange Conference by Paul Flessner, senior vice president of .Net Enterprise Servers.

Last week, IBM's Lotus Software group touted similar TCO and server consolidation benefits of Domino and Notes 6, which are already shipping. Both products support S/MIME security and smart cards, said Scott Cooper, vice president of Lotus Solutions.

The new version of Exchange, code-named Titanium, which will run on the upcoming Windows.Net Server, promises enhancements to MAPI, Microsoft's Messaging Application Programming Interface for client/server communication.

"We're reducing the bytes going over the wire %85 and we're further compressing data," Baker said. "We think we'll get greater than 50 percent compression."

The Titanium/ Windows.Net Server combination will support eight-node clustering. Such improvements promise to make it easier for branch offices to consolidate mail servers, even placing them remotely, Baker noted.

For mobile users, the system will store more information locally. "We want users to seamlessly move from connected to non-connected modes without closing Outlook down and bringing it back up," Baker said.

"You will work against a local copy of your data and when you undock, you'll have that. When you're back online, the system will sync that up in the background," he noted.

Robert Ginsburg, CTO of Version 3, a Columbia, S.C., solution provider, said, "They've got some nice clustering stuff; this is a fairly heavy revision %85 but mostly it shows maturation for Exchange."

Said Mark Levitt, research director at IDC: "The fact that Titanium won't release until mid-2003 while IBM Domino 6 is [already shipping definitely lowers the tension. This is not the same kind of battle as Exchange 2000 vs. Domino 5."