New Features in Exchange 2007 SP1

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While some previous details on Service Pack 1 for Exchange 2007 have been previously disclosed, and then later covered by both Eileen Brown's Blog and the Exchange Team Blog, I see courtesy of the MSGoodies Blog that the official release notes for Beta 1 of the Exchange 2007 SP 1 have just hit the interweb.  (Did I hit my quota of links in that last sentence?)

You can read the full Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta1 release notes here.

Judging by the extensive list of new features, the Exchange Team has been BUSY.  The new features include:

Client Features

  • Personal distribution lists This feature enables Outlook Web Access clients to create new and edit existing personal distribution lists.
  • Ability for users to edit server side rules This feature enables Outlook Web Access clients to create server side rules.
  • The 2007 Microsoft Office system file format converter This feature enables Outlook Web Access users to view the most common 2007 Office system file attachments as HTML documents. Converting file formats works for Microsoft Office Word 2007 (.docx), Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (.xslx), and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) file types.
  • Deleted item recovery This feature enables Outlook Web Access clients to recover items that have been deleted from the Deleted Items folder. Recovered items will be moved back to the user's Deleted Items folder.
  • Public folders This feature enables Outlook Web Access users to access, post, post a reply to, and search public folders.
  • Outlook Web Access (S/MIME) Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) is the Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 feature that enables Outlook Web Access users to read and compose messages that are digitally signed or encrypted.
  • Read signed and encrypted e-mail After a user installs the S/MIME control, they can open and then read signed or encrypted e-mail messages and see the security settings for the message. The security settings for a secure message are displayed in the infobar at the top of the message.
  • Compose and send signed or encrypted messages After installing the S/MIME control, all mail messages will be composed in the S/MIME form. The form resembles the non-S/MIME form, except for two new buttons that enable the user to sign and encrypt messages. If you pause on the button to sign a message, the tool tip is Add a digital signature to this message. If you pause on the button to encrypt a message, the tool tip is Encrypt message contents and attachments.

Exchange ActiveSync

  • CAS-CAS Proxying Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 continues to support CAS-CAS proxying for Exchange ActiveSync. The CAS-CAS proxying feature enables you to publish a single, external URL for your Exchange organization. When this feature is used, all Exchange ActiveSync client requests go through the single, external URL and are proxied to the Client Access server that is located in the same Active Directory site as their mailbox.
    This feature reduces the number of URLs that an end-user has to remember inside an organization.
  • Remote Wipe Confirmation Exchange ActiveSync for Exchange 2007 enables administrators and end users to send a remote wipe command to a mobile device. Administrators can issue the command from the Exchange Management Console or the Exchange Management Shell. Users can issue the command from within Outlook Web Access.
  • Exchange ActiveSync Default Policy Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 introduces a default Exchange ActiveSync mailbox policy. Administrators can define a default policy and apply it to all users who do not already have a policy applied. After a default policy is created, any new mailboxes that are created will automatically have the default policy applied.
Unified Messaging Features

Unified Messaging has been improved in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1. To use most of these features, you must correctly deploy Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 in your environment. Specifically, to use these features, you must meet the following requirements:

  • You are running Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 on all Unified Messaging servers in your organization.
  • You are running Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta 3 Refresh) in your organization.
  • Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 and Office Communications Server 2007 are configured correctly.

To correctly plan and deploy Exchange Server 2007 SP1 and Office Communications Server 2007 in your Unified Messaging environment, you must follow the planning and deployment steps that are provided in the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta Enterprise Voice Planning and Deployment Guide. The Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta Enterprise Voice Planning and Deployment Guide will be available at the same time as the Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta. The guide will be published to the Microsoft Download Center. For more information about known issues that you should consider when you deploy Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 with Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta 3 Refresh), see "Known Issues" later in this document.

The following is a summary of the Unified Messaging features that are available in an integrated Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 and Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta environment:

  • Support for additional types of UM dial plans To interoperate with Office Communications Server 2007, Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta1 Unified Messaging supports the following additional types of UM dial plans: Sip_Name and E164.
  • Additional logic for resolving internal calling numbers The scope of internal calling number resolution is significantly increased. The original release version of Exchange 2007 resolves internal extension numbers against only two sources. These sources are the extension numbers for other UM-enabled users in the same UM dial plan as the user who is being called and the contact list of the user who is being called. In addition to these two sources, Unified Messaging in Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta1 resolves internal extension numbers against all users in the Active Directory forest.
  • Notification of forwarding when leaving voice messages in scenarios where the destination uses call forwarding For example, User 1 uses Office Communicator 2007 to call User 2, and User 2 has set up call forwarding to forward calls to User 3. If User 3 does not answer the call, the call is diverted to the Exchange Unified Messaging server. The Unified Messaging server answers the call and records a message. The Unified Messaging server sends information back to User 1 that indicates to whom the voice mail was routed. Specifically, this information is rendered by the Office Communicator client, and User 1 can see that they are leaving a message for User 3 and not for User 2.
  • Support for recording high-fidelity voice messages in Exchange Unified Messaging Support for high-fidelity sound is added when Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 is used with Office Communications Server 2007.
  • Play on Phone calls cannot be automatically forwarded when they are played on Office Communicator 2007 When Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 is used together with Office Communications Server 2007, Play on Phone calls cannot be forwarded beyond the Office Communicator 2007 client. This change in functionality is beneficial because it ensures that a voice message is not forwarded to anyone other than its intended recipient.
  • Outlook Voice Access can be accessed from Office Communicator 2007 without requiring the user to enter a PIN If a user is logged on to Office Communicator 2007, the user can access Outlook Voice Access directly by pressing the Call voicemail button in Office Communicator 2007.
  • Office Communicator 2007 clients can associate subjects and priorities to voice messages When Office Communicator 2007 clients make calls, they can associate a subject and priority with the call.
  • Support for media streams to traverse firewalls This feature enables Unified Messaging servers to communicate with end points outside an enterprise firewall. The A/V Authentication Service authenticates media traffic as it flows through the Communications Server 2007 Access Edge Server.
  • Integration of missed call notification e-mail messages with Office Communicator 2007  When Exchange 2007 SP1 Beta 1 is integrated with Office Communications Server 2007, subscribers using Office Communicator 2007 receive only one, unique missed call notification in their Inbox.

The following features are available in Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1 without integrating your Unified Messaging environment with Office Communications Server 2007 (Beta 3 Refresh).

  • Secure Realtime Transport Protocol (SRTP) support This feature enables SRTP media traffic to flow to and from Exchange Unified Messaging. You can configure this feature by using the Exchange Management Shell or the Exchange Management Console. The secure SRTP configuration settings are located on the UM dial plan object.
  • Exchange Management Console support for configuring Transport Layer Security (TLS) In Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Beta 1, the Exchange Management Console has been extended to enable you to manage TLS. The TLS configuration settings are located on the UM dial plan object.