Exchange To Get More Mobile With 2007 Release

Microsoft plans to add more perks for mobile users to Exchange Server 2007, including the ability for users to wipe data off a stolen or lost device remotely. With the current release, only IT administrators can do that.

Microsoft continued to parcel out tidbits about the next release of Exchange, due out late this year or early next year, at the software giant's Tech Ed 2006 conference in Boston.

With Exchange Server 2007, mobile users will get more parity with PC-bound Outlook features, said Megan Kidd, group product manager at Microsoft. For example, users will be able to do more than accept or reject meeting requests from their handhelds. They will be able to add comments and forward those requests, as they can now do in Outlook and the Outlook Web Access (OWA) browser-based client.

Users also will be able to use their phones--or any device running Windows Mobile 5.0 or another operating system supporting ActiveSync--to search messages in their Exchange Server 2007 mailbox.