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However, last fall, Microsoft said it still had 16% of its installed base on Exchange 5.5, a group that would be prime candidates
for an upgrade but are also being tempted by IBM/Lotus, open-source e-mail vendors and others.
The rest of the Exchange user base is spread across Exchange 2000 and 2003.
Microsoft did not announce pricing for the new Exchange Enterprise CAL (client access license), but said it would include
access to unified messaging, user-centric journaling, and managed e-mail folders. The unified messaging option includes such
features as speech recognition for e-mail/voicemail/contacts and integration with IP-PBX.
In addition, users with Software Assurance maintenance contracts also will get multi-tiered malware protection with Antigen
for Exchange, which is anti-virus and anti-spyware software run locally, and online anti-virus and anti-spam services offered
through Exchange Hosted Services, which is the technology from Microsoft’s acquisition of FrontBridge.
Microsoft officials said those features and services would be priced at 50% lower than if users bought them separately.
Microsoft announced a similar Enterprise CAL earlier this year for Office 2007, which is due to ship by the end of the year,
that gives users access to added features such as searching and rights management and was available only to volume licensing
customers.
Both CALs are part of Microsoft’s attempt to add incentives for volume licensing users with Open and Select contracts to commit
to Software Assurance.
