Exchange Server Release Candidate Set For Tech Ed

Paul Flessner, senior vice president of Microsoft's Server Platform Division, will announce RC 1 of Exchange Server at his keynote Monday morning, according to Microsoft. But sources familiar with Microsoft's plans said not to confuse RC 1 of Exchange Server with the actual shipping version, which volume buyers can expect by the end of the summer. Retail availability is slated for the fall, they said.

Barry Goffe, group manager of enterprise marketing at Microsoft, confirmed the RC 1 news, first reported by CRN, but declined to comment on the rest of the product's timetable.

Microsoft hopes to roll out a wave of products in the same time frame to volume buyers, including Exchange Server, Outlook 2003, Office 2003 and the next SharePoint Portal Server, now known as Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (see story). With that raft of products, the company aims to encourage upgrades to Windows Server 2003. Those offerings are slated to ship in late summer, which represents a delay in the June introduction and release that Microsoft initially planned, sources said.

Phase one of Jupiter, code-named Voyager, is still on track to ship this year. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the beta is due in June but declined to comment on a potential beta one rollout at Tech Ed, which kicks off June 1.

Voyager is essentially the next version of BizTalk, Microsoft's application integration server. Phase two of Jupiter, code-named Discovery, is slated to add content- and commerce-management capabilities and is expected to come out next year (see story).

Microsoft also had hoped to have beta one of Yukon, its next-generation SQL Server, ready for Tech Ed, but that will not happen. Earlier this month, the company reiterated its commitment to release that beta in June. Microsoft has stopped promising a 2003 shipment for the database.

Solution providers have been pragmatic about the delays with Windows 2003 products. With IT spending still in a slump, they said Microsoft should be in no hurry to ship. What's more, with the company's three-year Software Assurance upgrade plans, it makes economic sense for Microsoft to slow down product releases and upgrades. "The fewer they come out with, the less expensive [it is] for them," said one industry analyst, who requested anonymity.

In other Tech Ed news, Microsoft's platform strategy group plans to announce a new .Net-connected directory. Third parties meeting Microsoft's criteria can list their XML Web services in that directory, Goffe said. "This is a showcase for software and services that have qualified for .Net certification," he said.

On Tuesday, Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief Trustworthy Computing strategist, is slated to unveil a new security certification for IT administrators and engineers.