What Is Exchange Server?

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As you know, Exchange Server is one of the most popular components of Microsoft's BackOffice suite. But what is Exchange Server? Ask three different administrators and you're liable to get three different answers. Is it a messaging system? Is it a groupware product? Is it a development platform? The answer is all three.

As a messaging system, Exchange 2000 Server represents the state of the art in reliability, scalability, and performance. Over the past couple of decades, electronic messaging has become one of the dominant methods of business communication, and Exchange Server is one of the most popular messaging systems in the world.

The term groupware was coined in the 1980s to describe products that could be used to create collaborative applications in which people share access to a collection of centralized documents and resources. These days, we just call it collaborative software. Exchange 2000 Server breaks new ground in online collaboration through the support of real-time data and video conferencing, instant messaging, and an enhanced chat server. In addition, it lets you store virtually any type of document within the Exchange system, allowing the document to be shared. Exchange Server can also automatically send copies of documents to different physical information stores, making the use of shared documents across an organization much more efficient.

Microsoft Outlook 2000 is the newest version of Microsoft's premier messaging and collaboration client for use with Exchange 2000 Server. It allows users to send and receive messages that include many different types of data, to share scheduling and contact information, to participate in public folder discussions, and even to access both network and local file systems.

Exchange Server is also increasingly being used as a development platform—that is, as a basis for creating applications and systems to address the specific needs of organizations. For example, you can use it to create forms that extend the capabilities of a simple message and even attach application logic to those forms. You might then configure Exchange Server to route the forms to specific users or destinations, where they can undergo further modification. Additional tools allow you to access and manipulate the information stored in Exchange Server or to take advantage of Exchange Server's delivery services.

As you can see, Exchange Server is a multifaceted and complex product. By the time you complete this book, you will have a full understanding of how to use Exchange Server to implement and administer all of these features, and you will be equipped to exploit Exchange Server to its fullest.