Microsoft Announces Availability of Exchange Server 2010 SP1 Beta

This week Microsoft announced the Beta availability of Exchange 2010 SP1. So why is this good news for hosting providers?

Exchange 2010 SP1 natively supports multi-tenant configuration, which allows service providers to host and offer Exchange 2010 business-class email to their customers, while taking advantage of the new architecture features that reduce a hosting provider’s TCO (by an estimated 50%) to host and offer email.

When you download the hosting mode configuration guide (see below), you will notice there is a new setup parameter (/hosting), which turns on the multi-tenant mode, and makes many powershell commands tenant-aware. There are many advantages of this architecture, as you will not need HMC layer anymore, which reduces deployment and management complexity. You will still need a control panel that you can build or acquire from one of our enabling partners who are working with us in our technology adoption program (Ems-Cortex, Parallels, Ensim, ExtendASP).

If you are hosting email today, and see an opportunity to scale or differentiate your services, the starting point is to download the Exchange 2010 SP1 Beta and provide us with your feedback until the product ships in the next few months.

A deployment guide and help file can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=bba88fb5-9d84-475c-85d7-3ffeb308636e&displaylang=en. 

If you have technical questions about this beta release, then you can post questions about configuration and troubleshooting hosting mode for Exchange 2010 SP1 at https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchange2010hosters/threads.

Happy hosting…

Talal Alqinawy, industry director – hosting solutions, Microsoft Communications Sector