The beta gives Exchange users a glimpse into the future of the software, which will include improvements such as "united messaging," a technology that creates a complete platform for e-mail, calendars, and contacts, with support for fax and voicemail.

Users will be able to call in to their Outlook inboxes and calendars by phone and interact with that data using speech-recognition technology. In addition, the new system will turn voicemails into e-mail attachments and store them in users' inboxes.

New Roles for Servers

The new software also features what Microsoft calls "server roles," enabling I.T. administrators to install and manage only the components required by a company. Microsoft has added simplified navigation and new filtering capabilities through a new graphical management console.

As for security, Exchange 12 has integrated antispam protection, antivirus capabilities that scan messages in transport as well as in the mailbox, and attachment filtering.

The principal benefits of Exchange 12 over Exchange 2003 include better scalability and more effective security, said Erica Rugullies, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

"With the server roles, more customers can use Exchange to handle their Internet mail," she said. "Unified messaging makes it much easier to access both voicemail and e-mail."

Web Services Support

Rugullies, co-author of a recent report on Exchange 12, noted that the new software also offers easier integration with applications through Web services and a performance boost through 64-bit support.

In Exchange 12, Microsoft plans to downplay some of the current component object model (COM)-based APIs and eliminate others, replacing these APIs with Web services provided by the Microsoft Windows Shell scripting technology, codenamed Monad.

Web-services interfaces will make application integration easier. Third-party independent software vendors (ISVs) and customers' application developers might have an easier time integrating Exchange services with desktop and line-of-business applications.

Exchange 12 will have Web services interfaces for workflow, ways to access the underlying data store, public folders, and access to an installable system.

While Exchange remains the leading enterprise e-mail server application, Forrester reports that IBM and Oracle, among other vendors, offer competitive alternatives to Exchange, as well as to SharePoint and Live Communications Server.