Overview

Since its inception, Exchange has largely focused on classic e-mail functionality. PDA-type clients and voice mail integration products from companies like Nortel Networks and Lucent have marked the furthest extent of any deviation from this path, with a small foray into NetMeeting supported in Exchange 5.5. In this respect, Exchange has been a weak platform for collaboration. It can be argued that public folders support collaboration by allowing users to share information in a structured and managed way. It can also be argued that users share information through some of the electronic forms applications that are hosted by folders. These arguments are valid to some extent. True collaboration means helping people work together better, smarter, and faster. The essentially static nature of the information held in public folders doesn't meet this need.

Collaboration means that you provide the support to enable people to work smarter by sharing information through more efficient means. Outside of the telephone, e-mail is actually the first and most fundamental collaborative application. E-mail provides the basic means of electronic communication and helps people get familiar with the concept that they can use a computer to enable better interchange with their colleagues. The act of implementing e-mail ensures that a network is available to link people together. Collaborative applications can then be deployed to exploit the infrastructure. Exchange 2000 delivers three new collaborative tools:

• Instant Messaging
• Conferencing Server
• Components to build voice-enabled applications

These additions are designed to make Exchange a better platform for collaboration. Instant...