Qualcomm's Solution

In June 2006, QUALCOMM deployed a beta version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Enterprise Edition. "I was very interested in this software because of its focus on unified messaging and mobility," says Steven Presley, Senior IT Engineer for Messaging at QUALCOMM. "We do a lot of work with wireless technology, so Exchange Server 2007 is a natural fit for us—something we‟d want to know about pretty early."

First, QUALCOMM set up Exchange Server 2007 in an initial staging called the "sandbox," a multiserver test environment where the company installs the latest technologies to see how they work and what features and challenges they will bring. In the sandbox, IT technicians evaluate the system‟s stability as they change configuration settings or add new features and components. Next, QUALCOMM deployed Exchange Server to a pilot environment that more closely resembles the company‟s full production system. The pilot included both Exchange Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2007 servers, with the latter running on the Windows Server® 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition operating system. For Exchange Server 2007, one server computer provided the unified-messaging role and another provided the hub transport, client access, and mailbox roles.

Setup proceeded smoothly. "Installing the server roles in Exchange Server 2007 was easy," says Presley. "Microsoft has greatly improved the setup process. I can now perform truly unattended scripted installations."

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