Exchange 2007 in Merger and Aquisition
When it comes to merger and aquisition Exchange 2007 provides provides unique advantages to integrate the email systems. In this post we will discuss how Exchange 2007 simplifies integration of Exchange environment at the two companies and offers additional functionality.
Integration of Exchange between two companies will result in a cross-forest topology with multiple Exchange forests. To simplify such integration Exchange Server 2007 must be installed in each forest. Next the recipients in the two forests must be synchronized, so that the Global Address List (GAL) in each forest contains users from other forest. Finally, Availability service is configured so that users in one forest can view availability data for users in another forest. Additional details on each of the steps are below
Exchange 2007 Cross-Forest Deployment
GAL Synchronization
By default, a GAL contains mail recipients from a single forest. If you have a cross-forest environment, the recommended solution for synchronizing Exchange 2007 GALs is to use Identity Lifecycle Manager (ILM) 2007 Feature Pack 1. The use of ILM 2007 Feature Pack 1 allows new and improved functionality in
· Cross-forest delegation.
· Synchronization of room and equipment information.
· Improved Outlook differentiation of synchronized contacts.
Availability Service
In a cross-forest coexistence topology while users use Outlook 2003 to access their e-mail, the Microsoft Exchange Server Inter-Organization Replication tool will be used to share free/busy data across forests.
Once both forests have Exchange 2007 deployed and users start using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to access their e-mail, the Availability service is used to gather free/busy data about users in both forests.
Moving Mailboxes Across Forests
In a cross-forest topology, you may want to move mailboxes from one forest to another. To do this you must use the Move-Mailbox cmdlet. This is the same command that you use to move mailboxes within a single forest. Exchange Migration Wizard was used to perform this task in Exchange 2003. Exchange 2007 has incorporated Cross Org migrations natively in server, so now Administrators can perform these moves by using the same task used for Intra Org migrations: Move-mailbox.
Cross Forest Connectors
To establish direct mail flow between the two companies that are running Microsoft Exchange Server in different Active Directory directory service forests, you must configure Send connectors and Receive connectors.
Exchange Address Rewrite is also used in merger or acquisition scenarios where two Exchange organizations are to be merged into one but, until these two organizations are completely merged, every organization uses its own SMTP namespace while for all outgoing SMTP messages the new or unique SMTP address space is used. For example: Contoso has acquired Fourthcoffee and for a limited time, until the acquisition is finalized, all users of Contoso should use the SMTP E-mail address space of Fourthcoffee for outgoing messages.
Cross Forest Administration
Exchange 2007 enables cross-forest administration. You might want a user in one forest to administer Exchange in both forests. Alternatively, you might want a user in one forest to administer Exchange in the other forest, but not in both forest.
The above list is a brief overview of Exchange 2007 features that simplifies email integration between two Exchange topologies. There are additional Exchange 2007 features that allow greater control and flexibility in integration of Exchange topologies.
