Wonderful Changes in Exchange Server 2007
I want to end the work day on a positive note. Yes, there are a couple of things about Exchange Server 2007 that tick me off, but overall, I love the product.
I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to mention some of my favorite features.
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Databases - The change to a single database is a big plus in my mind. Also, I love that we can now have up to 50 Storage Groups and up to 50 Databases when using Enterprise Edition. With the larger number of databases, we can now have smaller and faster databases. We can also have an extremely large number of spindles to provide even more disk I/O. Of course, being able to have a single transaction log disk per database also is a nice change which will lead to better performance as well as easier database recovery.
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OWA - Wow, lots of great changes here (except for the issue of Public Folder support which will be added back with SP1). I love that it is so much easier to select recipients without having to do a search. The vast number of new options is also a big plus.
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Mobile - Being able to allow users to wipe their own lost/stolen mobile devices is nice as well as being able to allow users to setup their own devices. The updated Exchange Active Sync is fantastic.
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OOF - Out of office messages are now much more granular. It is possible to configure them in a number of ways so that we can control the OOFs differently based on whether it is an internal sender vs. an external sender and even to the point of controlling OOFs to partners where we have SMTP connections setup directly with them.
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Transport Rules - I can't say enough about all of the fantastic things we can now do using transport rules. I could go on for hours about the many new options we have as administrators including simple things like being able to add disclaimers to all outbound email.
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UM - Unified messaging with the Outlook Voice Access capabilites are fantastic. I am having a blast playing with this new functionality.
If you have looked into Exchange Server 2007, I highly recommend downloading an evaluation version, taking a class, and seeing just how it can improve messaging in your company. The changes I have listed above are just the tip of the ice berg. There are many more new features that I am sure your company can use today.