Microsoft Exchange has an interesting history. It is part of the server products offered by Microsoft Servers and is used by many companies. The most popular features include email, contacts, calendar, tasks, and support. Data storage is also provided.
The history of Microsoft Exchange is quite interesting and began in 1993 when the XENIX system was switched to Exchange Server. Two years later, approximately 500 companies were using Exchange Server Beta 1. A year later, the number of users had grown exponentially to 32,000. In 1996, the public was able to purchase the original Exchange Server 4.0 for the first time. It was offered as an update for Microsoft Mail 3.5. However, it was very different and offered many services. Exchange Server offers a mail system with a database store that offers X500 directory services. The directory that was used became the Active Directory service, which Windows 2000 integrated as the basis for Windows Server domains.
The next edition was released in 1997. It was called Exchange Server 5.0 and it allowed access to SMTP-based networks for the first time. This new mail standard allowed the 5.0 edition to communicate with servers through the Internet Mail Connector. A new interface for web-based e-mail, as also included in this release, was called Exchange Web Access and was called Outlook Web Access in a later Service Pack. To accompany this release, a new version 8.01 for Outlook was released, as well as 7.5 for Microsoft Schedule and 5.0 for Microsoft Exchange Client.
Not long after a version 5.5 of Exchange Server was released. It had two editions, Standard and Enterprise. Database size, clustering, and more were a bit different. There were many different features that came with version 5.5, including Outlook Web Access in a new version, deleted item recovery, and support for IMAP4 and LDAP v3 clients. This was the last version to have separate directory, NNTP, and SMTP services.
Then came Exchange Server 2000. It was released in late 2000 and was better than previous versions. Four cluster servers were offered instead of two and the databases were larger. Instant messaging was also supported by Exchange Server 2000, but that was later changed. Exchange Server 2003 improved some of the limitations of version 2000, and many Exchange Server 5.5 users waited for version 2003 to be updated. Windows 2000 was also required. Others used Windows NT 4.0 and Exchange Server 5.5, but Microsoft no longer supports them. . As a result, anyone interested in learning must go through Microsoft Exchange Training. The latest edition is Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2007 training is required. Exchange 2007 training classes will help any professional become an expert in this new edition.
