Hot on the heels of the successful launch of its new Windows 7 operating system last month, Microsoft has taken the wraps off Exchange Server 2010, the latest revamp of its enterprise e-mail application.
The latest launch was far more low-key than Windows 7, but Microsoft South Africa's Albie Bester says the newest release will dazzle businesses with its ability to reduce costs, protect communications and delight e-mail users.
Microsoft says Exchange 2010's new features let companies buy cheaper storage systems, eliminate their voice-mail systems and do away with separate e-mail archiving software. Together with Windows 7 and the newest version of Windows Server 2008 - a trio dubbed the “New Efficiency” - early customers are reporting cost savings of up to 70%, according to a study by research analyst Forrester.
Bester expects Exchange 2010 to be “quite aggressively deployed”, citing Forrester research that says companies can expect to recoup their costs of deploying Exchange 2010 within six months through savings in other areas.
Johannesburg-based logistics company Super Group, which has about 2 500 mailboxes, is already reporting impressive results with the new server.
“We first implemented Exchange Server 2010 because of the operational efficiencies it would deliver,” said Super Group's Ronald Loewenthal. “Not only is there no training involved, but it provides new and enhanced features that are helping us streamline our costs and IT resources.”
The benefits that Super Group focused on included a lower cost for storing e-mail and enhanced archiving capabilities. Exchange 2010 can now be used with less expensive attached storage devices rather than SANs (storage area networks), said Bester. Another money-saving feature is Exchange's ability to take voice mail messages. A speech-to-text feature lets users read rather than listen to the messages. Microsoft has also added an e-mail archiving feature, which eliminates the need to purchase other archiving software.
The new version has other features to make e-mail more manageable, such as conversation threading, the ability to ignore ongoing conversations between co-workers, and protections to ensure that e-mail with sensitive information isn't released.
“Customers are also seeing productivity gains of more than 20% with a universal inbox that delivers e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging and text messaging consistently across virtually any device,” Bester said. “Together with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the combined cost savings and improved productivity helps customers generate long-term business success in tight economic times.”
At the local launch, several partners announced new services and solutions, including Dimension Data, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, iSolve and HTC.
Share