No Lotus Notes Killer

Exchange lags in collaboration

The next generation of Microsoft's messaging server promises to be easier to administer, more scalable and more tightly integrated with the Web and Windows 2000.

But despite the improvements, it appears that Exchange 2000 won't be a Lotus Notes killer.

Attendees at the Microsoft Exchange Conference last week, many holding freshly distributed beta releases to be made available to 400,000 testers, heard company officials tout the benefits of the new release, such as integration with Windows 2000, Outlook 2000, Internet Information Server and SQL Server.

Missing from Microsoft's demos, however, were knowledge management tools designed to work in conjunction with Exchange 2000. Indeed, several related technologies that had been previewed earlier this year weren't showcased. They include Tahoe, a search tool that will use XML and HTML to simplify access to data from multiple sources, including Web servers and Microsoft's SQL Server, Office and Exchange software. Also absent was a workflow tool, code-named "Grizzly," that's due to be offered as an add-on to Office 2000 Developer Edition.

Microsoft did demonstrate Ex-change 2000's Web Store, a repository for storing content such as messages, documents and database records as unique URLs and tagged in XML. Among other things, Web Store would aid workflow apps by providing a browser interface to all content.

Shortcomings in Exchange's collaboration features have made Lotus' Notes Designer client the only option for IT organizations that want to build full-blown knowledge management systems.

For example, Ford Motor Co.is piloting a system based on Lotus Domino server, Microsoft's IIS and Java applications to harness the collective knowledge of its employees--even though the automotive giant has 60,000 users on Exchange and another 70,000 on IBM Profs e-mail.

Ford is looking to roll out its Collaborative Team Room to more than 130,000 people, Ford officials said last week. Exchange will remain Ford's e-mail system.

"We investigated the heck out of what Microsoft had and what is coming down the road to see if there was something that could meet our needs, but they did not have the suite that could replace the Domino functionality," said Steve Scheerhorn, Ford's manager of enterprise information.

While Microsoft has made significant advances in collaboration, including Web Store, and improved development methods, Exchange 2000 will still fall far short of Notes, said Gartner Group analyst Tom Austin. Unlike Lotus, he said, Microsoft has yet to gain a large enough following among third-party developers to build collaborative apps on Exchange.

"There are substantive improvements in collaborative abilities," Austin said. "But Microsoft has a promise here; Lotus has a product. We still rate Lotus as dramatically ahead in collaboration and knowledge management."

Exchange product manager Doug Stumberger acknowledged that Exchange won't offer Notes' ability to build collaborative apps out of the box. "Domino has very well-integrated tools for building applications," Stumberger said. "We don't have that same integration of tools, but have made some steps in that direction."

But Stumberger also noted that many organizations are using the current version of Exchange for collaboration.

"The applications you can build in Exchange 5.5 and Domino are fundamentally the same," he said, pointing to KPMG and Credit Suisse First Boston as users of those features.

Stumberger added that Microsoft is developing a tool called Office Designer that will simplify the development of collaborative apps for Exchange much as Notes Designer does for Lotus Notes and Domino. But he would not say when Office Designer will be delivered.

Austin said most Exchange customers want more manageable, scalable and reliable e-mail systems more than they want new collaborative features.

Indeed, Damon Fischer, senior network analyst at electronics retailer Best Buy, put Exchange's new distributed architecture, which allows separate Exchange services to be split up across multiple servers, at the top of his list.

"The most interesting feature for me is putting different pieces of information on separate servers, letting me fit more users on existing machines," he said.

Exchange 2000's distributed architecture means it can scale to "tens of millions of users," Eric Lockard, general manager of the Exchange Server division, said. Previous versions were limited to about 1,000 users per server. However, Stumberger acknowledged that only the largest shops will be able to take advantage of those improvements.

Microsoft said the combination of Exchange 2000 and Windows 2000 will allow for unified administration of the messaging system and OS on a single console. Windows 2000's Active Directory will act as the directory for Exchange 2000, letting administrators more easily manage user data.

Most conference attendees were more concerned about Windows 2000 and Active Directory than Exchange; many see Exchange as merely an extension of the OS.

"Windows 2000 is the main thing," said Robert Neddo, manager of distributed computing for King County in Seattle. "Exchange 2000 just naturally follows."

Jeffrey Schwartz contributed to this story.