The Radicati Group released a new study analyzing the cost of running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in 19 corporate organizations.

This study looks at the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 in a total of 19 enterprise organizations, divided into two size groups:

• 12 Mid-size organizations in the 500-2,500 user range, with a median size of 1,000 users.
• 7 Large organizations in the 4,500+ user range, with a median size of 5,200 users.
• The study looks at Total Cost of Ownership costs along the following dimensions:
• Acquisition costs
• Maintenance costs
• Installation costs
• Administration costs
• Downtime costs
• Storage costs
• Training costs
• It also provides summary information on deployment of 3rd party products for security and wireless email.

This report is intended for Corporate Organizations, Vendors, Service Providers and Investors who need to make informed decisions about the Messaging industry.

Microsoft released recently Mobile Device Manager 2008 Best Practices Analyzer was released recently.

Brief Description
System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM) 2008 Best Practices Analyzer Tool helps you analyze a group of servers to determine if the prerequisites and best practices are met for MDM deployment.

Overview
MDM Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) Tool helps you to analyze the prerequisites for MDM setup and deployment. Because each MDM server component has different prerequisites, the tool helps you to plan and build a successful deployment environment by assessing each server’s readiness for MDM before you run MDM Setup.

In addition to analyzing each server’s individual readiness, BPA Tool helps you to verify the firewall configuration that MDM requires between servers running MDM Device Management Server and servers running MDM Gateway Server.

Finally, after you deploy MDM, you can run a post-deployment scan to help make sure your installation works properly and follows MDM best practices.

To learn about additional MDM tools, see MDM Resource Kit Tools.

Here’s a list with the Windows Mobile Webcasts for April 2008 (source: Jason Langridge’s WebLog):

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Providing Mobile Access to Corporate Data and Applications (Level 200)
Friday, April 4, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Improving Mobile Security and Management (Level 100)
Monday, April 7, 2008
9:30 A.M.–10:30 A.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: How to Overcome the Top 10 Mobile Device Security and Management Challenges (Level 200)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Device Management and Device Provisioning (Level 300)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Top 10 Features for Businesses (Level 200)
Monday, April 14, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Why Windows Mobile for Your Business (Level 100)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Messaging and Collaboration for Small and Mid-Sized Companies (Level 100)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Get the Facts on Comparing Windows Mobile and Blackberry (Level 300)
Friday, April 18, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Real-Time Messaging and Collaboration (Level 200)
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobility and Windows Mobile (Level 300)
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
1:00 P.M.–2:00 P.M. Pacific Time

TechNet Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Beyond E-Mail with Windows Mobile for Small and Mid-Sized Companies (Level 100)
Thursday, April 24, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: The Optimal Mobile Communications Solution (Level 100)
Friday, April 25, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Mobilizing Business Processes and Applications (Level 100)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
11:30 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Pacific Time

IT Manager Webcast: Windows Mobile Series: Mobility Infrastructure Optimization (Level 100)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
1:00 P.M.–2:00 P.M. Pacific Time

The latest Unified Communications technical rollup covers the following topics:

• News/Blogs
• Downloads
• Events/Webcasts
• KB Articles

As usual, this information is posted every month at the Technical Rollup blog.

Paul also aggregates this information on his monthly post A Month in Exchange: April 2008.

And if that’s not enough, the Microsoft Exchange Team posted the last Exchange documentation updates: Exchange Server Documentation Updates - April 2008.

Technorati : exchange server, technical rollup, unified communications
del.icio.us : exchange server, technical rollup, unified communications

There’s a new version available to download of the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack.

Brief Description
The Exchange 2003 Management Pack monitors Exchange 2003 deployments and monitors Exchange Server Back-end and Exchange Server Front-End systems (5000.11) 

Overview
The Exchange 2003 Management Pack monitors the performance and availability of Exchange 2003 Server systems. It can also issue alerts for possible configuration problems Availability and performance monitoring is done using synthetic transactions. In addition, the Management Pack collects Event Log alerts and provides associated knowledge articles with additional user details, possible causes, and suggested resolutions. The Management Pack discovers and monitors the individual server components and functional areas on an Exchange 2003 Server.
Feature Bullet Summary: This management pack monitors Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 and includes monitors and rules to track performance, availability, and reliability of Exchange core components and functionality. • MAPI, OWA, OMA, EAS synthetic logon transactions • Mail flow synthetic transaction • Mail Queue monitoring using Self-Tuning Thresholds • Comprehensive performance metric collection • 1000+ Event rules with associated knowledge • Database status • Database size • Mailbox statistics • Public folder statistics • Message tracking log statistics • Exchange and related OS Service monitoring • Configuration monitoring • Topology discovery of Exchange deployment • Integration in Exchange Best Practice Analyzer and ExDiag tools • Reports in the area of Configuration and Configuration changes, Availability, Performance
Management Pack Release History:
3/23/2007 - Initial Release Version 6.0.5000.0
6/25/2007 - Updated Release Version 6.0.5000.11, version details

Microsoft.Exchange.Server.Library.mp 6.0.5000.0
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Discovery.mp 6.0.5000.11
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Monitoring.mp 6.05000.11

1/15/2008 - Updated Guide - same version
2/25/2008 - Updated MP Guide and Management Pack. Please refer to the MP Guide for details.

Microsoft.Exchange.Server.Library.mp 6.0.6278.0
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Discovery.mp 6.0.6278.0
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Monitoring.mp 6.0.6278.0

3/17/2008 Updated MP Guide and Management Pack. Please refer to the MP Guide for details.

Microsoft.Exchange.Server.Library.mp 6.0.6278.2
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Discovery.mp 6.0.6278.2
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Monitoring.mp 6.0.6278.2

4/4/2008 Updated MP Guide and Management Pack. Please refer to the MP Guide for details.

Microsoft.Exchange.Server.Library.mp 6.0.6278.5
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Discovery.mp 6.0.6278.5
Microsoft.Exchange.Server.2003.Monitoring.mp 6.0.6278.5

Microsoft has just released the April update for the Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter.

“Install this update for Windows Mail to revise the definition files used to detect e-mail messages that should be considered junk e-mail or that may contain phishing content.”

The update is available through Microsoft Update or you can click the following links, according to your OS architecture:

• Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter (x32)
• Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter (x64)

As usual the update comes with the corresponding Knowledge Base article:

• Description of the definition updates for Windows Mail (KB905866)

Technorati : windows mail, junk email, spam
Del.icio.us : windows mail, junk email, spam

Windows Mobile 6.1 was officially announced last week. These are some of the new features and enhancements:

• Instant messaging-like texting
• Improved Internet browsing
• Simpler e-mail and Bluetooth setup
• New Home screen interface
• New Getting Started Center
• Security enhancements
• Easier Wi-Fi connection
• More personal choice

Jason Langridge posted a link to a video that illustrates the new Windows Mobile 6.1 features and capabilities.

Related links:

• Compare versions of Windows Mobile
• Read the press release

Microsoft released a technical document, HMC 4.0 - Scalability Test Report, that is the result from several scalability tests performed by Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center (EEC) and Microsoft Exchange Center of Excellence.

Brief Description
Hosted Messaging and Collaboration version 4.0 Scalability Test Report

Overview
This document is to provide information around scalability testing results coming from several tests performed by Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center (EEC) and Microsoft Exchange Center of Excellence. Tests have been performed to evaluate Microsoft® Exchange Server server roles scalability and their impact on a large Microsoft Solution for Hosted Messaging and Collaboration (HMC) 4.0 platform.

There are a couple of new cool mobiles resources available at the Microsoft site:

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Emulator Images - This package includes localized Windows Mobile 6.1 emulator images that can be used with Visual Studio to test applications or as standalone emulators without Visual Studio.
• Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit - Best Practices Analyzer - System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM) 2008 Best Practices Analyzer Tool helps you analyze a group of servers to determine if the prerequisites and best practices are met for MDM deployment.
• Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit - Server Tools - System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM) 2008 Server Tools provides tools to help administrators manage deployment and cleanup tasks in an MDM system.
• Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit - Self Service Portal - System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM) 2008 Self Service Portal is a Web-based interface that lets users manage their Windows powered mobile devices in MDM system.
• Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Resource Kit - Client Tools - System Center Mobile Device Manager (MDM) 2008 Client Tools provides tools to help administrators to troubleshoot connections and monitor device synchronization for Windows Mobile powered devices as part of an MDM system.

Microsoft released an updated version of the standalone Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 Help.

Brief Description
This download contains a standalone version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Help.

Overview
The Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Help can help you in the day-to-day administration of Exchange. Use this information to guide you through Exchange Server 2007 SP1 features, tasks, and administration procedures.