Exchange 2007: New Features, New Licensing

Introduction

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will arrive with a significant number of new features – and respective licensing changes. This report is aimed at reducing much of the anticipated confusion.

Exchange Licensing Basics

Server: An Exchange Server license is required for each running instance of Exchange Server software. Microsoft delivers two versions of the Exchange Server license – Standard and Enterprise. The Standard Server license is typically purchased by smaller companies.

CAL: Additionally, a client access license (CAL) is required to access each user mailbox hosted on the Exchange Server – regardless of how it is accessed, such as through:

• Outlook or Outlook Web Access
• Any POP or IMAP email clients, like Outlook Express and Eudora
• Any email- or mini-browser-enabled handheld devices, like smart phones and Blackberries.

There is no distinct CAL respective to the Standard or Enterprise Server license. That is,a CAL is a CAL regardless of the type of server license.

Exchange 2007 Server Licensing

Like earlier Exchange Server releases, the Exchange Server 2007 license continues to be delivered in two versions – Standard and Enterprise. Feature enhancements for Exchange Server 2003 and 2007 are shown below.

Figure 1: Feature Enhancements of Exchange Server 2003 and 2007 

Server License	Exchange 2003 Server	Exchange 2007 Server
Standard	2 Datastores 75 GB storage limit	5 Datastores
Enterprise	20 Datastores Clustering	50 Datastores Clustering Step-up from standard to Enterprise license does not require reinstallation

Source: Microsoft, July 2006 

Exchange versions 2003 and earlier had one CAL offering. With Exchange 2007, Microsoft has added a second, add-on CAL offering. Unfortunately, the two versions of CALs are called Standard and Enterprise. Standard and Enterprise CALs should not be confused with Standard and Enterprise Server licenses. There is no one-to-one relationship.

Exchange 2007 CAL Licensing

Exchange versions 2003 and earlier had one CAL offering. With Exchange 2007, Microsoft has added a second, add-on CAL offering. Unfortunately, the two versions of CALs are called Standard and Enterprise. Standard and Enterprise CALs should not be confused with Standard and Enterprise Server licenses. There is no one-to-one relationship.

According to Microsoft, there will be no price increase for the Exchange 2007 Standard CAL price. However, a “step-up” price will be applied to the new Exchange 2007 Enterprise CAL.

Figure 2: Comparison of Exchange 2007 Standard and Enterprise CAL Features

CAL License	CAL Features
Standard	Exchange 2003 CAL features, plus Org-wide policy management Cross-org mailbox search Continous Replication Technologies. Mail-flow rules Server Roles
Enterprise	Exchange 2007 Standard CAL features, plus Unified Messaging Per-user journaling Exchange Hosted Services Filtering (through FrontBridge Acquistion) Forefront Security for Exchange Server (Newest version of Microsoft Antigen for Exchange)

 Source: Microsoft, July 2006

Mix and Match Licensing

Standard or Enterprise Server licenses can be purchased with Standard or Enterprise CALs. Scenarios: 

Standard Server license, plus Standard CALs 

Standard Server license, plus Enterprise CALs

Standard Server license, plus a mix of Standard and Enterprise CALs

Enterprise Server license, plus Standard CALs

Enterprise Server license, plus Enterprise CALs

Enterprise Server license, plus a mix of Standard and Enterprise CALs.

What You Need To Do Now

Evaluate your company’s requirements against CAL feature-sets. Because of “mix and match” licensing, you can purchase Standard or Enterprise CALs for different groups of users.

Before purchasing new or upgrading existing Exchange Server licenses or CALs,evaluate the terms of service for your company’s overall Microsoft licensing agreement.

Key:
POP: Post Office Protocol
IMAP: Internet Mail Access Protocol

Notes:
The Blackberry trademark is owned by Research in Motion.
The Eudora trademark is owned by Qualcomm.
The Exchange, Outlook, Outlook Express and Outlook Web Access trademarks are owned by Microsoft.

This article was reprinted with the permission from Grey Consulting [1]