In September 2020, Microsoft announced that the next version of Exchange Server would arrive in the second half of 2021. However, the company did not meet this deadline due to a global attack by malicious games on existing Exchange servers. As Microsoft has refocused its focus on Exchange security, it has now announced that it will launch another version of Exchange Server in the second half of 2025 – a four-year delay compared to its original strategy.
The next version of Exchange Server (referred to as “Exchange Server 2025” in this article) will only be available to Software Assurance customers. It will also require a server and client access license (CAL). Although we know that it will be available via a subscription model, Microsoft says that it will share more details about pricing, features, branding, and requirements in the first half of 2024.
As ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley points out, Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 will be supported until October 14, 2025, but only Exchange Server 2025 will be supported after that date. Interestingly, this version of Exchange Server will have no end of support date and Microsoft will continue to support it until there is “substantive market demand”.
Microsoft has also hinted that it is working on in-place upgrades for those on Exchange Server 2019. This indicates that you might not need new hardware or plan mailbox migrations when updating to Exchange Server 2025. Meanwhile, Microsoft has unveiled several enhancements and features that it introduced in Exchange Server 2019 that will remain final for at least another three years. You can see the latest developments in Exchange Server 2019 in the Microsoft Blog post here.
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