MS hits the road with Exchange

Over 1,100 Microsoft solutions providers played spot the celeb at this year's Inside Track shindig, held at Birmingham's International Conference Centre last week.

Although they were there to hear about Microsoft Exchange, which is due for release on April 7, dealers listened to the wit and wisdom of speakers Will Carling and Rory Bremner.

Microsoft group channel manager John Frederiksen gave a product demonstration. 'The success of Exchange has a lot to do with the dealers' ability to service and support the product,' he said. He added that there will be a roadshow for Exchange around six cities in the UK in April.

Microsoft will target the product with direct mail to Microsoft Mail, cc:Mail and Groupwise users, and will run a large advertising campaign to coincide with the launch.

Microsoft UK MD David Svendson talked an upbeat game. He estimates that the first 12 months of shipping will bring a #25 million opportunity in Exchange support in the UK alone. 'Every #1 of Exchange software revenue will generate another #7 in support revenues,' he said. 'There is tremendous momentum behind NT Servers. We have sold as many servers in the last six months as the whole of last year.'