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The beta of Exchange Server 2010 is available for download today at http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/. Officially named Exchange 2010, the new product will become available in the second half of this year and includes an advanced e-mail archive and new features to manage inbox overload. The same new features will be available to customers in both the on-premises and online versions.

Q. What is new in Exchange 2010?

Exchange 2010 includes a host of new features customers will benefit from. At a high-level, these include a new e-mail archive, features to battle inbox overload, and improvements for e-mail administrators.

For businesses, highlights include:

Choice to run Exchange on-premises, as a service hosted by Microsoft or as a hybrid of both.
New integrated archiving capabilities
New high availability capabilities
Enhancements to simplify administration
Comprehensive information protection capabilities

For people at work the highlights include:

Integrated conversation view bringing together information across all folders, inbox and sent and deleted items
Ability to remove (or "mute") oneself from irrelevant conversations with the click of a button
Text preview of voice mail messages
Mail Tips to notify users about potential mistakes before they send an e-mail

Q. What is new in the beta that you did not already disclose via the Outlook Live program?

In addition to the features that we highlighted through the Outlook Live renaming news, there are a host of new features that Exchange 2010 brings to customers. At a high-level, these include a new e-mail archive, additional features to battle inbox overload, and improvements for e-mail administrators.

Q. Does the beta include all of the features that will be in the final release?

The final feature set is something that will be determined only after continued testing and feedback from our customers and partners throughout the development cycle.

Q. How does Exchange 2010 fit in with your larger UC&C strategy?

Messaging is the cornerstone of communications and collaboration, and Exchange integrates easily with Office Communications Server and SharePoint. Together, these technologies bring customers a platform that includes industry leading messaging, voice mail, archiving, voice, instant messaging, conferencing, social computing and collaboration.

Q. When will Exchange 2010 be available for purchase (generally available)?

In the second half of 2009.

Q. What is the pricing and licensing model for Exchange 2010—how much will it cost?

We are not discussing pricing or licensing at this time.

Q. How do customers know their information is secure with Microsoft?

We take our customers' security extremely seriously. All data that we host is protected by Microsoft's extensive defense-in-depth approach. We have achieved SAS 70 certification in each of the last 3 years, and have agreed to the EU's Safe Harbor Protections Act. While these public certifications testify to the strength of our security, many of our security processes are confidential and focused on maintaining the highest level of security possible.

Q. How will customers save money by moving to Exchange 2010?

Four important ways:

The end-user features will improve productivity and self-service capabilities will reduce help desk issues associated with e-mail, resulting in a general boost in productivity and lowered help desk costs.
The advances around storage will enable organizations to choose lower-cost storage options while still ensuring high availability and reliability.
Workers can securely and easily access their information across a variety of devices, creating fewer obstacles for lost productivity while traveling or telecommuting. Together with Outlook on the PC, browser, and mobile phone, Exchange offers the most flexible, complete messaging experience in the market today.
Exchange can fully replace a corporation's legacy voice mail system, enabling customers to eliminate costly maintenance fees, get more from IT resources, and boost productivity with unified messaging.

Q. What is the difference between your different Exchange offerings?

Exchange Online offers hosted e-mail, calendaring and contacts delivered as a subscription service from Microsoft. Exchange Hosted Services do not offer hosted e-mail, calendaring and contacts.
Exchange Hosted Services is a service that provides security and compliance services in support of customers that operate their own mail servers and customers that use hosted Exchange service providers.
Hosted Exchange is program primarily targeted at service provider partners who wish to license the Microsoft hosting technologies to host their own Exchange in their datacenter.
Outlook Live, formerly known as Exchange Labs, is a research and development program for testing next-generation unified communications capabilities in high-scale environments (such as Exchange 2010).

Q. If a customer has purchased Exchange Online can they upgrade to Exchange 2010?

If the customer has user subscription licenses (USLs), the can move to the next generation of Exchange Online at no additional cost.

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