Microsoft Making Exchange 12 64-bit Only Sharply Criticized

"This was not a good move on Microsoft's part," said Peter Pawlack, analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Redmond, Wash.-based research firm that specializes in tracking the developer.

"Sixty-four bit is definitely coming on, and as people move forward to new systems, they'll buy 64-bit servers," said Pawlack. "But we're not there yet. I think upgrades and migrations [to Exchange 12] are going to be very slow."

Last week, Microsoft announced that Exchange 12 -- which should release sometime in the first half of 2007 -- will be exclusively 64-bit. By Microsoft's account, it made the decision because of the performance gains that 64-bit offered over 32-bit.

"The product team have been testing E12 on 32-bit and 64-bit, and have found some significant gains and a reduction of IOs per second which results in really good performance gains," wrote Eileen Brown, a Microsoft IT evangelist, on her blog. "They tested Exchange on 64 bit and found almost a 75 percent reduction in IOs per second compared with Exchange 2003. This could result in almost a 4X increase in the number of users on the same disks or require 1/4 the disks to support the same users."

Pawlack and his colleagues at Directions saw it differently.

"It's a move made not on technical merit, but because Exchange is running into scheduling problems. It was done to reduce the test matrix and help move the schedule forward. We feel that's the only rational reason for doing this."

Microsoft is pushing 64-bit Exchange even though it's promised to support a 32-bit version of its next-generation server software -- Windows Server 'Longhorn' -- until 2017. The 64-bit-only characteristic is going to make migration difficult, said Pawlack, who cited a lack of in-place migration tools -- and a lack of any Microsoft talk of such tools -- and an inability to run Exchange 12 on Microsoft's Virtual Server, which is to support 32-bit only through next year's edition.

Rival research firm Gartner agreed that Exchange 12 will present migration problems. "The change will make the typical Exchange version migration slower and more complex," wrote Matthew Cain and Stephen Kleynhans, both analysts with Gartner. "Enterprises will need to validate their readiness to deploy and support Windows Server 2003 x64 within their production environments."

The largest enterprises are those most likely to move to Exchange 12, added Pawlack, who sees the 64-bit requirement as a barrier to mid- and small-sized firms.

"Only a small subset of the Exchange customer base needs the kind of scalability that 64-bit provides," he said.

"I think Microsoft is creating as many problems as it's solving with Exchange 12. If there was some capability available only in 64-bit, such as a much greater level of security, then that would be an acceptable reason for going solely with 64-bit.

"I don't think this was thought out," he concluded, "and I hope they reconsider."

For other Exchange users, support deadlines are quickly approaching. All support for Exchange 5.5, which harks to 1997, will end on Dec. 31, 2005, according to Microsoft's product lifecycle plans. And Exchange 2000, which debuted in Nov., 2000, will enter extended support Jan. 1, 2006. Once in extended support, customers must pay for all support and non-security-related hotfixes.