Microsoft announced Monday the immediate availability of the test versions of both its Exchange Server 2007 and Forefront Security for Exchange Server products. Both betas are feature complete and are available for download.

The second bata of Exchange 2007 includes several new enhancements and can provide better e-mail reliability, messaging management tools, new mobility features, and unified messaging capabilities.

As Exchange's companion product Forefront Security is the next version of Microsoft Antigen, which was released for Exchange last month. The program is intended to help maintain a secure messaging environment, Microsoft says.

"Today we enter the home stretch of delivering an unparalleled messaging solution, providing our customers with a cost-effective way to meet their most challenging messaging needs including compliance management and protection against constantly evolving security threats," Dave Thompson, corporate vice president of the Exchange Business Unit at Microsoft, said in a statement.

As usage of Exchange broadens, Microsoft has introduced Brazilian Portuguese and Russian to the languages supported by the application, as well as increasing the number of languages supported in Microsoft Outlook Web Access. In total, 11 languages will be supported in the former, and 47 in the latter.

Both products are scheduled for completion late this year or early 2007, roughly the same time as when both Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 are expected to be released.

Source: Xinhua/agencies