This new white paper is still hot and an absolutely “must read”.

Finally RU2 for Exchange 2007 SP1 has been released.

Download it here and read the associated KB article here.

Several of the authors here on MSExchange.org are as you already know also Exchange MVPs. MVPs are invited to a yearly MVP summit in Seattle, Redmond.

Below you see a picture of the MSExchange.org authors who attended this years MVP summit. From the left: Shaji Firoz, Nathan Winters, Anderson Patricio, Rui Silva and finally Neil Hobson.

Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to attend the summit this year

This is one great technical white paper written by my fellow buddy and colleague Kay Unkroth, so it includes of lot of nice details just like his previous papers for Microsoft IT Showcase.

Executive Summary

More than 18 months after the first Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 deployment in the corporate messaging environment and more than 12 months after completing the full production rollout across the entire company, the Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group is able to report significant benefits such as:

• Messaging service levels exceeding high-availability targets of 99.99 percent.
• Cost reductions in excess of $10 million per year.
• Increased mailbox quotas by up to a factor of 10.
• Consolidation of the initial Exchange Server 2007 base by nearly a factor of two.

Microsoft IT was able to achieve these results by taking full advantage of new storage features and input/output (I/O) improvements in Exchange Server 2007, the latest advancements in 64-bit processor technology, and direct-attached storage (DAS)–based storage solutions.

One key strategy that accounts for more than $5 million in annual cost savings involved eliminating the need for backups to tape by relying on new high-availability features in Exchange Server 2007 such as cluster continuous replication (CCR) as the first level of protection, and Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 as the second level of protection. Microsoft IT is not required to keep data on tape for archiving or other purposes. Moreover, according to an internal study conducted in 2006, Microsoft IT realized a 74 percent reduction of storage costs per gigabyte by replacing Storage Area Network (SAN) technology with DAS technology in the Mailbox server design. CCR enabled Microsoft IT to switch from SAN to DAS, which improved Microsoft IT’s ability to support employee productivity by means of large mailboxes with quotas between 500 megabytes (MB) and 2 gigabytes (GB).

Microsoft IT pursued another key strategy that focused on driving down total cost of ownership (TCO) through server consolidation. Microsoft IT has already reduced the initial Mailbox server base in the corporate messaging environment by more than 45 percent, from 62 servers (124 cluster nodes) to 34 Mailbox servers (68 cluster nodes), and consolidation efforts continue. Before and after consolidation, Microsoft employees enjoy large mailbox capacities, fast server response times, and messaging services that exceed the required high-availability level of 99.99 percent and frequently reach 99.999 percent with no extra effort.

Exchange Server 2007 enables Microsoft IT to not only lower storage costs and increase mailbox quotas, but also decrease storage complexities, regain full control over all aspects of the Mailbox server design (including the storage subsystem), eliminate maintenance overhead, and increase high availability of Mailbox servers. All storage-related issues that Microsoft IT encountered since the initial production rollout of Exchange Server 2007 were recoverable without the need for backups. There have been no critical storage-related incidents affecting Mailbox server availability across the entire corporate messaging environment for more than 18 months.

Get it while its still hot.

Surety is nearing the release of AbsoluteProof for Microsoft Exchange, a solution that seamlessly integrates into Microsoft Exchange Server to prove content integrity for e-mails, archives and back-ups, and we’re actively seeking users for our 60-day Beta program. We are looking for current Microsoft Exchange Server users to test and provide feedback on this tool. Beta testing is now active. For more information on AbsoluteProof for Microsoft Exchange, visit http://www.surety.com/products/category/microsofte...hange/.

As a Beta tester, you get first access to our products and the ability to influence product development and messaging.
What do Beta program participants receive?

o Be among the first to preview AbsoluteProof for Microsoft Exchange and have your opinions heard;
o Help us improve the quality of AbsoluteProof for Microsoft Exchange and request additional features before its release;
o Receive significant discounts when you purchase the final version for your company; and
o Have the opportunity to receive FREE versions of the product (which will be awarded to our most active Beta testers)

What’s required?

o Download and install AbsoluteProof for Microsoft Exchange;
o Spend time familiarizing yourself with the product and testing it;
o Send us feedback and bug reports on any errors found;
o Send us your suggestions on how to improve the product (we want to hear any idea you have, even if you think they are unimportant, obvious or “crazy”); and
o Report on compatibility issues (specifically related to your configuration)

If you are interested in joining the Beta program and helping to test-drive and ultimately shape Surety products, please e-mail betatest@surety.com.

Please pass this message to anyone you think might like to participate in this program.

Time to start playing with the Windows Mobile 6.1 emulator images.

Download here.

So you haven’t had a chance to play with the Standby Continuous Replication feature introduced with Exchange 2007 SP1 yet?

You want to get started in a few minutes? Then checkout this virtual lab.

Event Overview

Exchange Server 2007 includes a new feature in Service Pack 1 called Standby Continuous Replication, or SCR.  SCR makes it easy to add high availability and disaster recovery capabilities to your e-mail environment. In this Virtual lab, you will learn to create SCR in Exchange Server 2007, and use SCR to recover from failure.

My annual visit to Novell BrainShare last week was, as always, enjoyable and informative. While the vendors with whom I spoke weren’t all that pleased with the level of traffic on the exhibits floor, the event seemed well attended and fairly busy.

Continue here.

Binary Tree, the company behind the CMT Universal migration tool, have released a white paper explaining the process steps and associated costs involved in transitioning an IBM Lotus Notes and Domino environment to a Microsoft platform.

Get it here.

Cemaphore Systems has created an application that synchronizes e-mail content between Outlook and Exchange and Gmail. Call it disaster recovery in the cloud.

Continue here.