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PDAStreet.com > Features > Better Mobility with Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Better Mobility with Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2
By Brien M. Posey
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 has always supported mobile devices with features like Outlook Mobile Access. The forthcoming Service Pack 2 will expand on Exchange Server's existing wireless capabilities, however.
Traditionally, service packs for Microsoft products have been little more than collections of bug fixes and security patches. When Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for Windows XP though, they began a tradition of introducing new product features with the service pack. Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2003 will contain its share of bug fixes and security patches, but it will also offer many new features. And most of those new features are targeted toward administrators who have to support mobile devices.
Direct Push Technology Once the device receives the SMS notification, it downloads the message from the server. Although this technique works, it is terribly inefficient. Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 does away with SMS dependencies. Instead, the mobile device will maintain an HTTP connection with the Exchange Server. Whenever a new message arrives, it is automatically transmitted over this connection to the device. Exchange is not limited to pushing only messages to clients though. The Exchange Server will be able to deliver e-mail, contacts, calendar items, and task notifications.
Synchronization First, the ability to synchronize is now independent of the underlying network—as long as some form of TCP/IP based connectivity exists. The connection itself can be cellular, Wi-Fi, or just about anything else. Microsoft has also done some work to make the synchronization process more efficient. They have rewritten the compression algorithm used to compress synchronization related traffic so that data is compressed more tightly than before. This means that synchronizations will be quicker.
More New Capabilities Other new features include the capability to synchronize tasks and the ability to include photographs in the user's contacts.
Mobile Security Woes Mobile devices have always been a special challenge for administrators. To put it bluntly, mobile devices have traditionally been a security nightmare for several reasons.
Think about that for a minute. You work hard to keep your network secure, but an employee can easily copy sensitive data to a mobile device. Since your group policies do not apply to mobile devices, you basically have to trust the user to employ good security practices. As we all know though, end users traditionally aren't very security conscious. Many users do not even bother to password protect their mobile device. That means, if the user accidentally leaves the device in the back of a cab, there's nothing to prevent whoever finds the device from accessing the data contained within it.
The Help Exchange For example, the it will allow Exchange to support certificate-based authentication for mobile devices. This means that there will no longer be a need for storing corporate credentials on mobile devices. There is also added support for Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME). Mobile users will be able to use S/MIME to encrypt messages being sent to and from mobile devices.
LOST For example, Service Pack 2 contains a policy setting that lets administrators mandate device lock passwords. You set the device password policy directly through the Exchange System Manager. There are also a number of self-destruct policies. For example, administrators can establish a policy that performs a hard device reset once the password has been entered incorrectly a specific number of times. That way, if the device is lost or stolen, you don't have to worry about who ever has the device now performing a brute force crack against the device. Once the password has been entered incorrectly X number of times, the device is reset to factory default settings and all data is erased. Although the Microsoft Web site does not mention it, a speaker at its TechEd conference mentioned that software giant is also working on a time bomb policy setting. The idea is that if the user doesn't log into the device for a specific number of days, then the device resets itself. So if a device is lost, then a set policy can blank the handheld or smartphone before it can be compromised. Service Pack 2 will also include a remote self-destruct option. So if a user realizes that he has lost his mobile device, he can call the system Administrator who can blank the device by remote. That way, the handheld is erased immediately. There is no need to wait for a time bomb or for a number of bad password attempts.
Conclusion If you'd like to learn more about Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2, visit Microsoft's Web site here. Related Links:
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