(9-Nov-09) The world is a different place than it was when Microsoft Corp. released Exchange 2007 software a few years ago – today, the economy is down and the demand for productivity is up as Exchange 2010 enters the market by the end of this year. Early forecasts indicate that the industry is ready for Microsoft’s latest messaging software release as users champion its features.
“(There are) a lot of expectations,” said Tim Hickernell, associate lead research analyst at London, Ont.-headquartered Info-Tech Research Group. “As our clients are moving toward their budgeting activities for fiscal year 2010, we are seeing tremendous interest in Exchange upgrades in particular. There’s lots of interest in hosted e-mail too.”
According to Hickernell, the impetus for organizations moving to upgrade their existing communications software is not purely for cost savings. Instead, it’s a result of a belief that “while e-mail itself is mission critical still, the management of the system can be outsourced.”