Exchange Server 6.0 details emerge

Microsoft Corporation began its Microsoft Exchange Conference in Boston Thursday with keynote address by general manager Brian Valentine, who wowedthe crowd with information about Exchange Server 6.0, code-named "Platinum." According to Valentine, Exchange Server 6.0 will ship sometimein 1999, after Windows NT 5.0 ships, and scale higher while supporting moreusers per server. Exchange 6.0 will also feature failover and loadbalancing capabilities. It is unclear at this time whether Exchange 6.0will even run on Windows NT 4.0 because of the number of NT 5.0 featuresthat it takes advantage of.

"We're not confused on which platform we run on," Valentine said. "There isnothing in NT [5.0] that we are not going to support."

The Exchange Server 6.0 Directory will support two-way replication with theNT 5.0 Active Directory. Scripting via the Windows Scripting Host, a VBScript or JavaScript environment, will also be supported.

Exchange 6.0 will also integrate more tightly with Office 2000's Outlookcomponent as a client. Outlook 2000 will feature a new "find public folder"capability, great replication options including one-key synchronization, and an integrated Internet Explorer 5.0 Web browser. With Exchange 6.0 onthe back-side and Outlook 2000 as the client, users will be able to easilybuild basic collaboration applications.

Microsoft will also include an upgrade Wizard that will convert Lotus Notesapplications to Exchange public folders.