Roughly a year ago, we launched the Exchange Server 2010 Deployment Assistant. It allows you to create Exchange Server 2010 on-premises deployment instructions that are customized to your environment. The Deployment Assistant asks you a small set of questions and, based on your answers, it provides a checklist with instructions that are designed to get you up and running on Exchange 2010. In addition to the online checklist, you can even print a PDF of your checklist.
We're happy to announce that the Deployment Assistant has been enhanced to include rich coexistence information for those interested in maintaining some users on-premises and some users hosted by Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises in the cloud. This approach is different than the Simple Exchange Migration (SEM) and Staged Migration options currently offered by Office 365. As of now, the available scenario is targeted solely at those organizations with a current Exchange 2003 on-premises implementation, but additional scenarios for supporting Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 will be coming. The coexistence information is also only available in English at this time.
Your feedback over the last year has been instrumental in the evolution of this tool. We would love your feedback on this new scenario area as well. Feel free to leave a comment here, or send an email to edafdbk@microsoft.com via the 'Feedback' link located in the header of every page of the Deployment Assistant. Send us your 'success stories' after using this tool! We'd love to hear about them, too!
- Katie Kivett
Microsoft Exchange Deployment Assistant PM
