The next version of Microsoft’s Exchange Server–software used to manage e-mail, contact lists and calendars–will arrive in 2006, according to a company executive.

Andy Lees, corporate vice president of marketing for Microsoft’s server and tools business, revealed the ship date Tuesday. Previously, the Redmond, Wash.-based software company had said the software would arrive in 2006 or 2007. The software, currently called Exchange Server 12, will incorporate new features to handle voice mail and faxes. The current version of Exchange Server was released in 2003. It’s a dominant program in the market, but it faces competition from products sold by IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystems and others.

Source: Neowin.net