Microsoft and IBM's Lotus Software division have some new messages around messaging: lower costs, more users, better control, and improved integration. At this week's Microsoft Exchange Conference in Anaheim, Calif., Microsoft will disclose details about the next version of its Exchange messaging server, code-named Titanium. Due next year, the software will include an improved messaging API for better performance and support eight-node clustering with failover in conjunction with the upcoming Windows .Net Server. It also will let companies serve users' E-mail accounts from centralized systems, saving the costs associated with needing an Exchange server for each branch office, group product manager Chris Baker says.

But centralizing Exchange servers is risky, says Marc West, CIO at video- and PC-game maker Electronic Arts Inc. If the network goes down, employees in the same building wouldn't even be able to E-mail each other, he says. "We're not seeing significant improvements in how to deliver an E-mail service effectively." He'd prefer that Microsoft let companies centralize E-mail servers while keeping lightweight local servers that would preserve users' work during outages. On Oct. 1, IBM, Microsoft's chief rival in the groupware market, rolled out new releases of Lotus Notes, Domino, Sametime, and QuickPlace collaboration software. The upgraded versions are more tightly integrated, IBM says. For example, IBM's Tivoli management software now can oversee Domino and Notes installations.