Alfa BBT

Hundreds of blogs already reported on the release of the beta of Exchange 2010/Exchange 14.

 Anyway, here are some resources in case you would want to catch up with the latest messaging bits from Microsoft:

• Product Home Page
• Download Beta Version
• Technet Documentation Library
• TechNet Forum

The most important changes:

1. SCR, LCR & SCC all dissapear. CCR will be enhanced with multiple replicas of the same database
2. Web based management console (on top of PowerShell)
3. OWA becomes “Outlook Live”
   1. Self-service features for the end user: e.g. request membership of a DL
   2. Premium interface finally supports Firefox (and Safari)
   3. Gmail like conversation view.
4. Role Based Access Control for an even more granular delegation model
5. Storage groups are replaced by Availability Groups.
6. All mailbox access passes through the CAS servers,  adding an extra abstraction layer.

A more extensive write-up of the new E2K10 can be found on simple-talk.com. Some installation guidance can be found on Scott Schnoll’s Blog on the other hand.

Note that the only supported Operating System so far is Windows Server 2008 x64 (no R2!)

Happy testing!