REDMOND, Wash. - March 13, 1996 - As part of Microsoft Corp.'s Early Adopter program, more than 40,000 corporate, government and education customers are now in full production using Microsoft® Exchange Server, the messaging server with integrated groupware and Internet connectivity.

Microsoft gave customers who had been active in the Microsoft Exchange beta program the opportunity to work directly with the development team and go into full production with the beta version of Microsoft Exchange. More than 100 customer representatives worked with the Microsoft Exchange development team and were instrumental in shaping key product features. As a result of this involvement in the product, many of these customers started their deployment of Microsoft Exchange Server in February 1995.

"At EDS, we are re-engineering our global messaging infrastructure to improve the way our people do business as they serve our customers in 40 countries," said Paul Marrero, consultant systems engineer at EDS. "Along with the use of our intranet (EDS *WEB), we plan to use Microsoft Exchange Server as a critical piece of our approach to communications and collaboration. We have successfully tested Microsoft Exchange on 16-bit and 32-bit systems."

"Microsoft Exchange's performance amazes me," said Tom Webb, manager of electronic messaging for Shell Services Company, the information technology provider for Shell Oil. "We've worked with Microsoft Exchange for a year and a half. Its interactive response time is incredible, allowing us to fly through messages and get more work done than we can on PROFS® or any other mail system. We have eight messaging systems, including Lotus Notes®, and expect to converge on Microsoft Exchange. With its compatibility with legacy software, we've made Microsoft Exchange a full part of our existing network even during the migration."

"Before shipping Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft requires a unanimous vote of approval by customers participating in the Early Adopter program, and they've given it," said Jim Allchin, senior vice president of the desktop and business systems division at Microsoft. "Microsoft Exchange Server will be launched as the software most thoroughly tested in customer environments; we greatly appreciate the early adopters' participation, dedication and enthusiasm for this product."

Many Early Adopter companies, including Intergraph Corp. and Microsoft Corp., have used the Internet Mail Connector since beta 2. Intergraph replaced 10 MS-DOS® operating system-based SMTP gateways with one Internet Mail Connector, which is handling approximately 100,000 messages per day. Microsoft is using the Internet Mail Connector to send and receive approximately 250,000 messages per day. In addition, all mail being sent to *.microsoft.com is received via an Internet Mail Connector.

Microsoft Exchange Server contains e-mail and built-in groupware to allow group scheduling, discussion databases and document sharing for users to view and share information stored in public folders. In addition, it enables system administrators to monitor and troubleshoot a corporation's entire messaging system - including Internet connections and usage - from a single workstation. It enhances the Microsoft BackOffice™ family of server applications for distributed intranet and Internet computing.

Early Adopter organizations now using Microsoft Exchange in production mode include Aetna, Alcoa, AlliedSignal, Bass Breweries, BHP, Chevron, Columbia/HCA, Computer Associates, Digital Equipment Corp., Dun & Bradstreet, EDS, General Electric, Glaxo Wellcome, Hoechst Celanese, Intergraph Corp., Federated, Labatt, MCI, Merck & Co., Mercury Communications Ltd., Merrill Lynch, Microsoft Corp., Nabisco Inc., NASA/Marshall Flight Center, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Oregon State University College of Business, Pacific Bell, PRC Inc., Rhone Polenc Rorer, Rolls-Royce, Sacred Heart University, Shell Oil, Solvay, Southern Co., the State of Kentucky Department of Education, the State of New York, Telstra, Texaco, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Westinghouse Electric Corp. and Zeneca.

These customers are migrating to Microsoft Exchange from Microsoft Mail Server, cc:Mail™, PROFS, DEC™ ALL-IN-1®, Lotus Notes and others, and are running the Microsoft Exchange client on both 16-bit and 32-bit desktops.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, MS-DOS and BackOffice are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
cc:Mail is a trademark of cc:Mail Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lotus Development Corp.
PROFS is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corp.
Lotus Notes is a registered trademark of Lotus Development Corp.

ALL-IN-1 is a registered trademark and DEC is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corp.

For Online Product Information:

Microsoft Exchange Internet Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/