Microsoft Exchange Server
calendaring and mail server developed by Microsoft that runs exclusively on the Microsoft Windows Server product line
Microsoft Exchange Server is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. It runs exclusively on Windows Server operating systems.
The first version was called Exchange Server 4.0, to position it as the successor to the related Microsoft Mail 3.5. Exchange initially used the X.400 directory service but switched to Active Directory later. Until version 5.0, it came bundled with an email client called Microsoft Exchange Client. This was discontinued in favor of Microsoft Outlook.
Exchange Server primarily uses a proprietary protocol called MAPI to talk to email clients, but subsequently added support for POP3, IMAP, and EAS. The standard SMTP protocol is used to communicate to other Internet mail servers.
Exchange Server is licensed both as on-premises software and software as a service (SaaS). In the on-premises form, customers purchase client access licenses (CALs); as SaaS, Microsoft charges a monthly service fee instead.
History
Microsoft had sold a number of simpler email products before, but the first release of Exchange (Exchange Server 4.0 in April 1996) was an entirely new X.400-based client–server groupware system with a single database store, which also supported X.500 directory services.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Microsoft Exchange Server” as calendaring and mail server developed by Microsoft that runs exclusively on the Microsoft Windows Server product line. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as calendaring and mail server developed by Microsoft that runs exclusively on the Microsoft Windows Server product line. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q223653. VIAF identifies the subject as 181951526. 1 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1996.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Microsoft Exchange Server” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.