Is BCM in Outlook 2003 compatible with Exchange 2003?

[brobertson]

Our company is contemplating making the switch from POP 3 to Exchange
Server 2003 Enterprise, but 1/2 of the company is using the Business
Contact Manager function within Outlook 2003. If we deploy Exchange
Server 2003 Enterprise edition, will the information in each employee's
Business Contact Manager be mirrored/backed up on Exchange Server 2003
Enterprise edition as their existing .pst file will be?

 

[Leonid S. Knyshov]

Our company is contemplating making the switch from POP 3 to Exchange
Server 2003 Enterprise, but 1/2 of the company is using the Business
Contact Manager function within Outlook 2003. If we deploy Exchange
Server 2003 Enterprise edition, will the information in each employee's
Business Contact Manager be mirrored/backed up on Exchange Server 2003
Enterprise edition as their existing .pst file will be?

BCM will happily co-exist with Exchange.
BCM will not store its data in an Exchange mailbox or a PST. It's a separate
information service that has its own entry in the Outlook profile. This
information service is not Exchange-aware.
I do recommend that you switch to Exchange. There is a way to put BCM
database on the server, but it is not documented by Microsoft.
All of this becomes easier with BCM 2007.

Exchange Enterprise will probably be an overkill for your organization.
Exchange Standard and SBS 2003 are typically what we deploy for
organizations that use BCM. Consider that SBS 2003 is a $600-$1500 product
that comes with Exchange Standard, a license of Outlook 2003 for each of
your users, and support for up to 75 licenses as well as a mail store of up
to 75GB.
--
Leonid S. Knyshov, CEO
Crashproof Solutions, LLC - http://www.crashproofsolutions.com
MCP Exchange 2003/Small Business Server 2003
Microsoft Small Business Specialist Partner
See the tips and tricks section on my website for video tutorials on BCM
Send a smile to Microsoft (Office 2007 Beta feedback tool)!
http://tinyurl.com/m4omy