Exchange Server 5.5 Life-Cycle Policies Extension: FAQ

Customers gave us feedback that they would like more time to migrate from Exchange Server 5.5. Based on this feedback, we are offering the first year of extended support at no charge. Extended support (pay-per-incident and security hotfix support) is still scheduled to end on December 31, 2005. We also invested in new deployment and migration tools to ease and facilitate your migration to Exchange Server 2003.

With Exchange Server 2003 available to volume licensing customers for only a few weeks, we have received feedback from Exchange Server 5.5 customers that they need more time to plan and execute their deployments. The decision to extend mainstream support for another year was in response to this feedback. Exchange Server 2003 offers tremendous value for those customers, so Microsoft wants to be sure they have the flexibility and resources necessary to migrate on a schedule that best suits them.

The only difference is the end dates for extended support: Exchange Server 5.5 extended support ends on December 31, 2005, while support for Windows NT 4.0 ended on December 31, 2004. This reflects the fact that Exchange Server 5.5 was released later than Windows NT 4.0.

No.

There are no plans to change mainstream support for Exchange 2000 Server at this time.

Fees for nonsecurity hotfixes are waived through 2004. Extended support will be available for purchase through December 31, 2005.

For the details on pricing, customers should contact their Premier Support contract representative or account representative.

Microsoft Premier Support for the Enterprise is designed to help large enterprise customers to successfully develop, deploy, and manage business systems built around a broad range of high-quality Microsoft solutions for servers and personal computers. You receive a proactive account; a managed relationship; personalized technical services; and fast, expert resolution of technical issues for all Microsoft products any time of the day or night. Premier Support provides a comprehensive suite of services focusing on four key areas of customer needs:

Price depends on the company and the particular levels of support they are looking for.

The purchase of Premier Support covers all products currently supported by Microsoft.

Pay-per-incident support is a service that Microsoft offers to customers seeking help for a single, product-related problem, or an "incident." Service is offered over the Internet or by phone, and a standard charge for support applies per incident.

Microsoft Premier Support provides proactive access to professional services and technical expertise around Microsoft solutions for servers and personal computers.

A hotfix is a modification to the commercially available Microsoft product software code to address specific critical problems. You can submit requests to fix these problems.

Extended support includes assisted support that can be charged on an hourly basis and can include hotfix support. To receive nonsecurity hotfix support, an extended hotfix support contract must be purchased within the first 90 days following the end of a product's mainstream support phase. Microsoft does not accept requests for warranty support, design changes, or new features during the extended phase.

A pay-per-incident request is a service that Microsoft offers to customers seeking help for a single, product-related problem, or an "incident." The service is offered over the Internet or by phone, and a standard charge for support applies per incident. A nonsecurity hotfix is a modification to the commercially available Microsoft product software code to address specific critical problems.