Exchange & Outlook UPDATE, Exchange Edition, April 19, 2002

The new Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server XML Web Services Toolkit for Microsoft .NET, Best of Show Awards at TechEd 2002, plus resources and announcements.

Exchange and Outlook UPDATE, Exchange Edition—brought to you by Exchange & Outlook Administrator, a print newsletter from Windows & .NET Magazine that contains practical advice, how-to articles, tips, and techniques to help you do your job today.
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Free Exchange Guide from NetIQ
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Esker Software
http://www.esker.com/exchange0402
(below COMMENTARY)

SPONSOR: FREE EXCHANGE GUIDE FROM NETIQ

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http://www.netiq.com/f/form/form.asp?id=428

April 19, 2002—In this issue:

1. COMMENTARY

2. NEWS AND VIEWS

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

4. RESOURCES

5. NEW AND IMPROVED

6. CONTACT US

1. COMMENTARY
(contributed by Jerry Cochran, News Editor, [email protected])

For the first time in 8 years, I didn't speak at Microsoft TechEd, which took place last week. (I was disappointed, especially because this year's event was in one of my favorite cities: New Orleans.) There were several reasons why I didn't attend, including the fact that I'm just returning from paternity leave. However, I think that the most significant reason was TechEd's change of focus, which I've written about before.

Starting last year, Microsoft began to shift the emphasis of its spring event to development, trimming out most infrastructure content. Microsoft is shifting this infrastructure content to its fall event: the Microsoft Enterprise Conference (MEC—formerly known as the Microsoft Exchange Conference). This strategy—with its resulting tighter focus, clearer content, and simplified marketing for each event—is probably the right thing for Microsoft and its customers. For developers in particular, a Microsoft event with a specialized development focus is long overdue.

Although the change means a large reduction in the number of Exchange Server and Windows deployment sessions available at TechEd, this year's event still included plenty of Exchange content. In fact, the Exchange folks tried to make a huge splash with the announcement of the Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server XML Web Services Toolkit for Microsoft .NET (what a mouthful). What's all the hype about? You might consider this new toolkit as more "fluff" around the .NET-ization of Exchange. However, the kit includes some pieces that are worth looking at if you're thinking about migrating your existing Exchange applications to Microsoft .NET or want an overview of how to develop XML Web services that leverage Exchange 2000's data and services. The kit includes samples of XML Web services for calendaring/scheduling, contacts, and workflow; the Exchange Software Development Kit (SDK) March 2002, which includes a sample tracking application developed in Visual Studio .NET; demo applications of business scenarios that leverage Exchange 2000 Web services; white papers; videos of developer presentations from major conferences; and a .NET developer self-paced training course.

The whole idea and dream behind Microsoft .NET and the larger concept of Web services is "contextual collaboration." (For a great explanation of this new buzzword, see Sue Mosher's Exchange & Outlook UPDATE, Outlook Edition article "Contextual Collaboration" ( http://www.exchangeadmin.com , InstantDoc ID 24860.) Contextual collaboration is about consuming services and data as part of "meta applications"—business solutions that leverage technology, services, and data across the organization. With products such as Exchange, enterprises have developed and deployed technological service islands: monolithic, self-contained business solutions that are based on one platform (e.g., Exchange). To get greater return on investment (ROI) and lower total cost of ownership (TCO), we need the ability to unlock these islands and expose them as services and data that other applications or solutions can consume—services that we can access through HTTP and data that's formatted as XML, packaged by Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), described by Web Services Description Language (WSDL), and discovered by DISCO (a Microsoft Web services discovery and publication protocol) and Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI).

For Exchange 2000, the key service and data components that can be exposed in this manner include calendaring, contacts, messaging, and workflow. You can use HTTP-DAV to access these services directly when you build applications with Visual Studio .NET, or you can wrap your existing Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange 2000 Server (CDOEX) applications as Web services. This new breed of consumable services lets Exchange services and data become part of a larger business solution.

If you've been waiting to get your Exchange applications on the Microsoft .NET or Web services bandwagons, or if you're an enterprise architect trying to figure out how to leverage Exchange services and data in your line of business (LOB) or meta applications, the Exchange 2000 XML Web Services Toolkit is a great place to start. You can order the kit online at http://microsoft.order-2.com/exenable ; for further information, visit
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/development/2000/enablekit.asp

SPONSOR: ESKER SOFTWARE

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2. NEWS AND VIEWS

The winners of the Windows & .NET Magazine and SQL Server Magazine Best of Show Awards at Microsoft TechEd 2002 include Winternals Software's ERD Commander 2002; NetIQ's Administration Suite, Advanced Edition; Aelita Software's Enterprise Directory Manager; ProClarity Analytic Platform; Compaq's ProLiant DL760; BindView's bv-Control for Microsoft Exchange; and NetIQ's AppAnalyzer. For a full list of finalists, visit
http://www.wininformant.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=24852

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS

Microsoft ASP.NET Connections, VB Connections, and Win-Dev are co-locating their events to deliver the largest independent .NET developer-focused event in 2002. You can get three events for the price of one with more than 145 sessions covering XML and data management, .NET basics, .NET Web security, Visual Basic (VB) 6.0, C++, application debugging, and more. Register right now!
http://www.asp-connections.com/regasp.asp

If you think you've already seen the Connected Home Virtual Tour, think again. Browse through the latest home-entertainment, home-networking, and home-automation options and check out our special feature on wiring your home. Sign up for our prize drawings, too, and you might win a free wireless home network, courtesy of Linksys. Take the tour today!
http://www.connectedhomemag.com/virtualtour

4. RESOURCES

Each week, Microsoft posts several Exchange Server how-to articles to its Knowledge Base. This week, learn how to find all the mailboxes linked to a particular Windows NT account.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q251390

Alvita needs to create a policy and procedures document for Exchange Server 5.5 email retention, deletion, and archiving. If you can help or want to join the discussion, go to the following URL:
http://www.exchangeadmin.com/forums/thread.cfm?cfapp=72&thread_id=102402&mc=2

5. NEW AND IMPROVED

Marshal Software has announced MailMarshal for Exchange, which builds on MailMarshal SMTP and provides a scalable solution for scanning internal and external email on systems that run Exchange 2000 Server. MailMarshal for Exchange, which supports 25 to 500,000 users, features high-speed virus and text scanning, spam control, and realtime notification of policy breaches. The product requires Windows 2000 Server with Active Directory (AD), Exchange 2000 Service Pack 1 (SP1), Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 1.2, Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.5, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 5.01, and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 7.0 for reporting. For pricing and additional information, contact Marshal Software at 678-781-5250 or [email protected].
http://www.marshalsoftware.com

6. CONTACT US
Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:

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