When a new software release is introduced we (IT professionals) are faced with the dilemma, upgrade or wait. The new Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 release is an upgrade that you should strongly consider upgrading to sooner rather than later. There are six strong reasons why you should migrate to Exchange 2007.

Organizations, small and large, have been using various means to collaborate from Email to SharePoint and internet instant messaging (IM) services to web conferencing. However, with third-party IM services running in an organization, the lines between corporate and personal messaging can be blurred. The threat of confidential information being leaked and/or a new means by which viruses can be transferred into an organization can haunt both corporate management and the IT security team.

Unlike almost any other IT problem an organization may face, a security breach is far more serious than a broken router or a crashed hard drive which can be routinely remedied. After all, information assets such as customer databases, trade secrets and intellectual property are probably the most valuable assets on a commercial organization’s balance sheet; or, in the case of government or military entities, their databases contain some of the world’s most sensitive secrets.

SharePoint products and technologies have become a fast friend to many organizations for quick, intuitive, and flexible information collaboration since its second iteration in 2003. In SharePoint 2007 users will see it's biggest makeover while revisiting functions we haven't seen since 2001.

As administrators continue to lock down secured networks, one option is to block unwanted protocols at the firewall level. One of these protocols is RPC (Remote Procedure Call). With the configuration of RPC over HTTP, Outlook 2003 can connect to your front-end Exchange server that is sitting behind your perimeter firewall.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005's new Reporting Services feature provides Business Intelligence Developers a built-in reporting tool that can substitute many popular report design and management tools like Crystal Reports and Crystal Enterprise. BI Developers use the Report Designer (included in the BI Studio) to design and publish reports to the web based Report Manager.