Microsoft Announces Exchange Server 2010 Availability

BERLIN, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the Microsoft Tech-Ed Europe 2009 conference in Germany, Microsoft Business Division President Stephen Elop announced that Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is now available worldwide to help businesses reduce costs, protect communications and delight e-mail users. Along with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, Exchange Server 2010 is part of a generation of solutions designed for increased business productivity and cost savings.

In today's challenging economic environment, innovative use of new information technologies can result in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs. The combination of cost savings coupled with improved productivity and innovation is defined as "the New Efficiency."

Elop also announced the release of Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server, which helps Exchange Server customers further safeguard business information.

"Exchange Server 2010 customers are already reporting cost savings of up to 70 percent thanks to a simplified high-availability model and support for lower-cost storage. Customers are also seeing productivity gains of more than 20 percent with a universal inbox that delivers e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging and text messaging consistently across virtually any device," Elop said. "Together with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, the combined cost savings and improved productivity helps customers generate long-term business success."

According to a commissioned study of technology early adopters conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft Corp., a customer can see a payback period of less than six months when upgrading to either Exchange Server 2010* or Windows Server 2008 R2.**Customers such as Bank of America Corp., Carnival Cruise Line, Global Crossing, Lifetime Products, Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc., NEC Philips, Subaru Canada Inc. and Telekom Austria Group are deploying Exchange Server 2010 and report impressive results with the new server.

"We have increased storage eightfold at 25 percent of the cost with Exchange Server 2010 and our employees are seeing a reduction of unwanted e-mail by more than 70 percent, freeing us up to focus on more important client issues," said Steve Derbyshire, operations director, NEC Philips.

Organizations including Automatic Data Processing Inc., BMW, Baker Tilly, the City of Miami, Energizer, Getronics and Pella Corp. are deploying Windows 7 and report gains in efficiency for both business users and IT. Customers report improved user productivity and easier information access, reduced costs with streamlined management, and reduced risk through better security and increased desktop control. Supporting detail is available in recent total cost of ownership studies and analyst survey reports at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/windows-7/default.aspx.

Businesses are seeing equally significant results from Windows Server 2008 R2, with customers including Continental Airlines Inc. (U.S.), Chester Zoo (U.K.), Combell Group NV (Belgium), FinPro (Finland), Wacom Europe GmbH (Germany) and Wortell (Netherlands) noting cost savings through server consolidation, reduced power consumption and improved service levels.

"With Windows Server 2008 R2, we've been able to dramatically reduce costs in our IT infrastructure while simplifying management," said Phil Morris, IT manager, North England Zoological Society/Chester Zoo. "By virtualizing our environment with Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, we have reduced the number of servers in our environment by 80 percent while maintaining the high availability our retail staff, researchers and management team need.""Windows Server 2008 R2 brings many efficiencies to our customers, including enabling new virtualization scenarios," said Bill Laing, corporate vice president for the Windows Server and Solutions Division at Microsoft. "We've added the next generation of hypervisor and the new ability to perform Live Migration of virtual machines. Many customers are already seeing tangible results since deploying Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V."

Elop said more than 45,000 partners are trained on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010, with several partners announcing new services and solutions today, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Avanade, Dell Inc., EMC Corp., Kaspersky Lab, Symantec Corp. and Unisys Corp.

Exchange Server 2010 and Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange are available now for trial at http://www.thenewefficiency.com/, along with more information about Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and partner solutions.

Ongoing Commitment to Developers and IT Professionals

As part of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to providing developers and IT professionals with the technology to drive productivity gains within their organizations, the following announcements also were also made today at Tech-Ed Europe 2009.

  --  The community technology preview for SQL Server 2008 R2 will be
      available for download at
      http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/R2.aspx.
  --  For use in building multilanguage Web sites and client applications,
      Microsoft Translator widgets and APIs are now in beta. Many European
      languages are now supported by Microsoft Translator. Additional
      details can be found at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9694254.
  --  Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Group will release new guidance that
      extends the full Security Development Lifecycle process to a wider
      external software developer audience, by enabling developers using the
      Agile development model to integrate Microsoft's SDL processes, tools
      and technologies directly into their software development
      environments, helping to ensure their applications are secure and
      their customers have a safer, more trusted computing experience.

Source: Microsoft Corp.