News

Microsoft: 41 Percent of Exchange Customers on Exchange 2000

• By Scott Bekker
• 07/16/2002

Since the launch of Exchange 2000 Server almost two years ago, Microsoft has refused to disclose the percentage of its installed base that has made the jump to the latest version of its messaging platform.

That changed this week when Redmond highlighted a study by the Radicati Group that estimated that as many as 41 percent of Exchange customers were now using Exchange 2000.

Microsoft highlighted the numbers on Monday as it gave the public its first look at what was coming in the next version of Exchange, which is code-named "Titanium" and is due for release in 2003.

The rollout of Exchange 2000 has been slowed by the messaging and collaboration server's dependence on the Active Directory in Windows 2000. Exchange rollouts had to be timed simultaneously, or occur after, a full Windows 2000 Server deployment that included the complex new Active Directory technology.

While Microsoft is trumpeting Radicati's numbers on the Exchange 2000 adoption rates, it's not in agreement with the research firm on total seats. Microsoft this week claimed there are 109 million licensed Exchange seats across all versions of the server. In its own numbers published July 8, Radicati put the number of active Exchange seats at 85 million.

Microsoft statements about the Radicati estimate of Exchange 2000 adoption do not indicate whether the percentage applies to customers or seats.

One sign of per-seat adoption rates came three months ago. In April, Compaq Global Services claimed that out of 8 million Exchange seats it had installed or managed under contract since September 2000, one quarter, or 2 million, of those were Exchange 2000.