So, what's the buzz about SP1? What are the features people are excited about? Are you ready to implement standby continuous replication (SCR)? Is it the general improvements in unified messaging (UM) capabilities? How about the return of public folder management through the GUI, or OWA improvements? Exchange 2007 SP1 includes a lot of new stuff—what features are strong enough to make you want to switch?

In Anne Grubb's latest editorial, "Exchange 2007 SP1, and a Bit of UC Confusion," she mentions the possibility of a major wave of migration to Exchange 2007 coming with the release of SP1. (She also has a nice list of articles, with links, on SP1 topics.) What do you think—is this wave really coming? If you've held off making the move till now, what have been your reasons? According to a recent poll on the Windows IT Pro site, most respondents either don't have the budget for a migration, or just don't feel the need to migrate yet. Will SP1 make a difference?

If you're already using Exchange 2007, what does SP1 mean for your organization? Easier management, or more headaches—or at least more decisions about which features to implement?

 I'd love to hear what you have to say about Exchange 2007 SP1.

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Brian Winstead
Associate Editor

I am "excited" that several items Microsoft set aside in order to get the base RTM out the door will be added back in SP1, including Public folder and Internet Protocol (POP3 and IMAP4) administration using the Exchange Management Console.

SCR is probably the big one that people are looking at as a decision making feature. I am sure lots have waited for SP1 before implementing an Exchange upgrade. I'm not sure SP1 itself is the catalyst for a 'migration wave'.

To me, SP1 means using Windows Server 2008.

 

 

 

We converted over just for the SCR redundency.

I get the feeling that SP1 is quite a big deal.

Although MS made a reasonable job of the 2007 wave, there were certainly a fair few areas where things could have been better!

I see SP1 as fixing a lot of those areas in Exchange 2007 and also putting in the core functionality around replication (SCR) and support for 2008 Server.

Certainly clients I have been talking to are very keen to implement SP1 and I think it will provide another good reason from a sales point of view to go back to prospects and talk to them again.

Cheers

 

Nathan

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Nathan Winters - MVP Exchange Server
MCSE & MCSA 2000 & 2003 + Messaging, MCITP Exchange 2007, MCP, VMWare VCP v2 & v3.

Welcome to the Microsoft Messaging and Mobility User Group: http://www.mmmug.co.uk

hmmmm... relieved may be closer to it than excited.

Following the install (and the 2 registry hacks to fix the problems with the NIC offloading) My Outlook client in the test lab behaves somewhat as it did when running against a 2K3 server. No longer have to wait 2-3 minutes for the mail to open/update/send etc.

(on a quad core xeon @2.66GHz/8Gb's RAM/SAS array.with 2 users)

SCR rates up there as a "good to see" - but am concerned too many may tout it as a panacea for all ills (AKA your E2K7 server just bit the big one!) where as it is a nice step on the road to a true DR; but better something than nothing?