History of Microsoft Exchange Server

[2] Exchange Server was an entirely new X.400-based client–server mail system with a single database store that also supported X.500 directory services.

Introduced the new Exchange Administrator console, as well as opening up "integrated" access to SMTP-based networks for the first time.

They differ in database store size, mail transport connectors, and clustering capabilities.

This is useful in large companies with distributed Exchange Server environments who cannot afford the downtime and expense that comes with a complete migration.

Some customers opted to stay on a combination of Exchange Server 5.5 and Windows NT 4.0, both of which are no longer supported by Microsoft.

This is done by allowing the server to send and receive mail while the message stores are being recovered from backup.

Also new is the ability to drop inbound e-mail before being fully processed, thus preventing delays in the message routing system.

There are also improved message and mailbox management tools, which allow administrators to execute common chores more quickly.

Others, such as Instant Messaging and Exchange Conferencing Server have been extracted completely in order to form separate products.

This requirement applies to supported production environments only; a 32-bit trial version is available for download and testing.

A wider beta was made available via TechNet Plus and MSDN subscriptions in March 2006 according to the Microsoft Exchange team blog.

[citation needed] Microsoft reached the RTM milestone for Exchange Server 2013 (v15.0) on October 11, 2012.

[23] New features include:[24][25][26][27] On October 1, 2015, Microsoft announced the general availability (GA) of Exchange Server 2016 (v15.1).

One of the key features of the new release is that Exchange Server can be deployed onto Windows Server Core for the first time, additionally Microsoft has retired the unified messaging feature of Exchange, meaning that Skype for Business on-premises customers will have to use alternative solutions for voicemail, such as Azure cloud voicemail.

[30] For more detail on new features, see the following Microsoft blog article: Exchange Server 2019 Public Preview