The Technology Preview beta for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 is now live and available for download for approximately 1 million subscribers on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and TechNet. At this point in time, Microsoft estimates that it will be able to deliver both Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Forefront Security for Exchange Server SP1 by the end of 2007. Exchange Server 2007 SP1 is also Microsoft's way to prepare the product for the upcoming Windows Server 2008, scheduled to be released to manufacturing by the end of 2007 and for general availability at the end of February 2008.

"Microsoft continues to see increased growth and adoption of Exchange Server with approximately 3 million people representing 1,000 companies switching to Exchange Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server from Lotus Notes in the past year," said Terry Myerson, general manager for Exchange Server at Microsoft. "With the new service pack, we have zeroed in on several areas of investment that are important to our customers, including support for Microsoft's next-generation platforms and improved mobile device management. SP1 will drive added value for our customers, further establishing Exchange Server as the foundation of a unified communications platform."

The SP1 update will enable companies to run Exchange Server 2007 management tools on both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, but will also permit users of Microsoft's last 32-bit operating system to deploy and manage geographically dispersed Exchange Server clusters. Moreover, Microsoft has also focused its development efforts on Exchange Server 2007 SP1 in order to build on the existing level of integration with Office Communications Server 2007. "New Exchange ActiveSync policies in SP1 build on Exchange Server 2007's robust security and management features with new policies for synchronization, authentication and encryption. For businesses with more advanced data protection needs, Exchange Server 2007 SP1 offers device, network and application controls. These new features allow network administrators to help manage and secure Exchange ActiveSync-enabled mobile devices," Microsoft added.