The Microsoft Forefront Team announced the TAP for the next release of Forefront:

Can you believe it!? We have just shipped our first Forefront Service Packs and now the team is ramping up a Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for our next major release. The next version of the Forefront Server Security products will be bigger and better than previous versions, and so will the TAP.

This Microsoft Forefront Technology Adoption Program includes all products under the Forefront product line, not just Forefront Server Security products. These products are:

• Forefront Codename “Stirling” – (To learn more about “Stirling”, check out the “Stirling” site.)
• Forefront Client Security (FCS)
• Forefront Security for Exchange Server (FSE)
• Forefront Security for SharePoint (FSSP)
• Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA) integration with “Stirling”

Based on your needs, you can utilize just Forefront Security for Exchange, Forefront Security for SharePoint, or combination of the above products. The TAP program is a great opportunity for you and the Forefront product teams to collaborate and learn from each other. Your feedback is heard directly by the product team, helping you and us to improve the product. Feedback is taken in the form of general feedback, bugs reports, and Design Change Requests (DCRs). The program timeline is aggressive, starting November 19, 2007 and finishing in calendar year 2009.

To start your nomination for the Forefront TAP, please fill out the survey by:

1. Visiting the Microsoft Connect website
2. Signing into Connect with a Windows Live ID
3. Visiting the Available Connections page, and clicking “Apply” for the “Forefront TAP”

You will receive a response from Microsoft within 2 - 3 weeks.

If you have any questions regarding the program or the nomination process, please email kweather@microsoft.com or Stirtap@microsoft.com.

Now that Exchange Server 2007 SP1 has finally been released, there are a couple of downloads that you may wish to check:

• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Release Notes - The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Release Notes contain late-breaking information for Exchange Server 2007.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Unified Messaging Language Packs - Use unified messaging language packs to allow the Exchange Server 2007 system to speak additional languages to callers. This download contains pre-recorded prompts, for example “Welcome, you are connected to Microsoft Exchange” in the language specified by this download. It also enables text to speech translation such that content (e-mail, calendar, contact information, etc.) can be read to the caller in the language of the Unified Messaging language pack.
• Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) SDK November 2007 - The Exchange 2007 SP1 SDK November 2007 Documentation and Samples assists developers who are building applications for Exchange 2007 SP1. This release of the SDK provides new and updated information and sample code to help you develop collaborative enterprise applications for Exchange 2007 SP1.
  The README file contains installation instructions for and late-breaking information about the Exchange 2007 SP1 SDK November 2007 Documentation and Samples.
• Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 - Forefront Security for Exchange Server SP1 integrates multiple scan engines from industry-leading security firms into a comprehensive, layered solution, helping protect your Microsoft Exchange Server messaging environments from viruses, worms, spam, and inappropriate content.
  This new release provides support for Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Windows Server 2008, as well as content filtering and manageability enhancements.
• Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server with Service Pack 1 Readme