Microsoft Exchange Labs

What is Exchange Labs?

As part of Microsoft’s software + services strategy, we are enhancing the way we build, test and deliver Exchange. On October 1, 2007, we announced Exchange Labs, a new program for testing the next version of Exchange in high-scale services environments.

Who can use Exchange Labs?

The initial rollout of Exchange Labs is designed for select schools and universities as part of http://get.live.com/edu. Windows Live @ edu “powered by Exchange Labs”, allows these select academic institutions to easily connect students and alumni with e-mail, and integrate these users with existing on-premises Exchange Server deployments that support faculty and staff.

If you are a school, and interested in Exchange Labs for your organization, please see Getting Started with Exchange Labs.

What features are enabled with Exchange Labs today?

For end-users we have:

• Windows Live ID authentication, that can be used with Messenger, Spaces, and all of the other Windows Live services
• Support for the complete Outlook experience: Microsoft Office Outlook, Outlook Web Access, Outlook Mobile
• Support for the broadest set of 3^rd party clients with POP, IMAP, and Exchange Activesync support
• 5 GB of mailbox quotas
• Security with SSL enabled all of the time
• Shared address books and calendars

For school administrators we have:

• Provisioning and administration tools to manage student and alumni accounts

• Ability to integrate on-premises Exchange deployment for faculty and staff, with hosted Exchange Labs for students and alumni

As always, I look forward to feedback from our community on this new program.

Thank you for choosing Exchange,

Terry
General Manager, Exchange