Office 365, Hybrid Co-Existence. Exchange Versions.

[Robert Bollinger]

Hey Guys, 

I am hoping for some insight. My question is pretty easy and i may have even asked it before, if i did my mistake. 

If a customer is running Exchange 2010 On-Prem, no current office 365 cloud solution setup. If the customer wanted to move into office 365, but planned in keeping exchange (any version) on-prem around for a while..... 

Question: 

1)

Should the customer upgrade to the latest version of exchange? say 2016? then setup hybrid co-existence? 

2)

Is a customer required to upgrade to the latest version of exchange for Hybrid-Coexistence to work ? I know the documentation says that exchange 2010 is supported but the documentation doesn't give any insight on when or why a customer would upgrade first to the latest version of exchange. 

I am trying to best consult customer(s) on when they can simply setup hybrid-connectivity with their current version of exchange or if they should upgrade first. 

Thanks, 

Robert

[#2]

Yes Exchange 2010 is supported and you are not forced to upgrade, I have not heard of any date where this is due to change (Maybe once it goes end of life?). The disadvantages to remain in hybrid would be licencing and hardware requirements to keep in place and also if the exchange server is where the mail is routed then you could loose inbound and/or outbound mail for office 365 users if the exchange server is offline.

[#3]

I would recommend to make an upgrade so customer can be fine in regards of Microsoft support life-cycle and also because Exchange 2013 / 2016 are better prepared to work with Office 365. In regards of licensing concerns, just remember that you can request a no cost Exchange license so you can keep the hybrid

[#4]

Hi Robert,

I also recommend to upgrade your Exchange environment to the latest Exchange.

You will have better experience and support with the latest version.

You can request a Hybrid Exchange Key like @Juan Carlos González Martín said here is the link - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2939261/how-to-obtain-an-exchange-hybrid-edition-product-ke...

Please see the note in the article:

Note: The Hybrid Configuration wizard that's included in the Exchange Management Console in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 is no longer supported.