Microsoft just announced the list of updates to be included with Exchange Service Pack 2 scheduled for release in the second half of this year.

As always Tech Ed brings fresh news on upcoming technologies. Steve Ballmer made sure not to let us down announcing the Messaging and Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0. This will build on Exchange SP2 to deliver new mobile email functionality. Both of these are scheduled to be released "at or near" the same time. Summarizing the feature list from Microsoft (see references) here are the updates in this area:

• New seamless Direct Push e-mail experience
• Additional data compression
• Additional Outlook properties
• Greater control and security, including:
  • Policy setting. Force a password to unlock a device.
  • Local wipe. Reset the password after x number of incorrect logon attempts.
  • Remote wipe. Reset remote devices over the Web.
• New optional support for certificate-based authentication
• Added support for Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME)

New updates are also on the way for anti-spam protection. IMF will get updated SmartScreen filtering logic. Furthermore Sender ID will add protection against phishing and spoofing. An important point is that the Sender ID verification results will be fed to IMF. In this manner IMF will be able to take a more informed decision on assigning SCL ratings.

Last year Sender ID gave rise to a debate related to its standardization, mainly due to the patents held by Microsoft in this area. The integration with Exchange will certainly give a new push to the adoption of Sender ID and SPF.

Finally a bunch of updates in various areas are on the way. Summarizing the feature list (see references):

• Increase in mailbox storage size limits to 75GB.
• New offline address book format.
• Cache mode enforcement.
• Finer controls for public folder management.
• Full support for Novell GroupWise 6.x connectors and migration tools.
• Iberian and Brazilian Portuguese spelling checker.

References

Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 is Coming!

Microsoft Answers Call From Businesses With Messaging and Security Feature Pack for Windows Mobile 5.0