Microsoft is holding an Exchange-focused conference in late September this year where Exchange 15 will be the star, according to an April 3 blog post on the Exchange Team Blog.
At MEC 2012, according to an April 3 blog post, attendees will:
- Get exclusive Exchange 15 content directly from the engineering team
- Get hands-on experience with Exchange 15
- Enjoy unparalleled access to Exchange team members, Masters and MVPs
Microsoft released earlier this year a tech preview of Exchange 15 alongside the Office 15 client, other Office 15 servers (Lync 15 and SharePoint 15), and the coming "15" version of Office 365. Microsoft officials have said to expect a public beta of all of these deliverables later this summer. So far, next-to-no information about the Exchange 15 tech preview has leaked.
On Windows Weekly last week, my cohost Paul Thurrott said last week he has heard from one of his contacts that Microsoft is planning to launch Office 15 in November 2012. I had heard from one of my own contacts that Microsoft is endeavoring to release to manufacturing Office 15 in November 2012. As we Microsoft watchers know, Microsoft sometimes RTMs products before launching them; other times, teams end up "launching" products before they have RTM'd.
As I've blogged recently, Microsoft's SharePoint Online 15 tech preview documentation mentions "SharePoint Online 2013" when discussing the SharePoint 15 product. Microsoft often pushes the dates used in product naming to the next year when a product RTMs toward the end of a calendar year.
Microsoft officials have declined to provide a final ship target for its "15" products, beyond saying the client, server and services will all be kept in sync, timing-wise. Microsoft also is not yet commenting on final naming or SKU plans for Office 15 at this time.