"The conference will be an educating experience for Exchange users, showcasing the products and services that can be run on the Exchange," said Microsoft India product manager Saichandra Rao.

The conference will focus on issues surrounding deployment of Microsoft Exchange. Issues such as scalability, migration and security will be discussed in great detail, said Rao.

Over 600 customers are expected to participate in the conference, said Rao.Microsoft plans to make the event an annual affair.

According to Microsoft, the critical mass has been attained with over 40,000 users of Exchange in the country today. The number of Exchange users have shown a steady increase since 1997, more so in the last few quarters. Between October 1997 and March 1998, the Exchange saw a growth of 120 per cent, said Rao. The periodstarting October 1998 and February 1999, the number of users went up 117 per cent, added Rao.

Microsoft expects this trend to continue in the next few months, said Rao.Oil companies, banks and several fast-moving consumer goods companies have been among the major users of Exchange, said Rao. The applications have ranged from HRD, expense and sales tracking and performance appraisal, he added.

The small and medium business segment too has been receptive to Exchange. The penetration in the SME segment has been in the order of 65 per cent, said Rao.

The MS Exchange Server 5.0 embraces internet standards and extends messaging and collaboration solutions to businesses of all sizes. The 5-user version for SMEs comes at price points between Rs 46,000 and 48,000. The enterprise edition for 25 plus users starts at a price of Rs 88,000 and can go up to Rs 1.20 lakh, depending on the number of users.

Competitive upgrades offered by the company also encourage users to go in for Exchange, said Rao.

Theconference will help to showcase technology trends and increase awareness among customers about applications one can run on Exchange, said Rao.

Microsoft has enlisted the support of over 20 software vendors to support applications on Exchange, said Rao. The company expects to increase the number of independent software vendors supporting Exchange to go up to 100 before the end of the year.