During the beta phase of the Exchange Client Network Bandwidth Calculator (ExNBC) I hope to release an update every 4-6 weeks. These updates are to provide new features based on feedback and potentially to fix things in the calculator.
For this Beta 2 release, I have been working with our teams in the Office 365 community to help make the calculator easier to use for customers planning for an Exchange Online deployment. The following changes have been made;
- Corrected Outlook 2003 network latency requirements
- Provided some Office 365 context help
- Added Office 365 icon against recommended Office 365 clients
- If Office 365 is selected on the input page
- Availability protocol is highlighted if configured incorrectly for Office 365
- OWA 2007 removed from client list
- Outlook 2003 removed from client list
- Non-Outlook Anywhere clients removed from list
Note: Outlook Anywhere in Online mode was not a scenario that was envisaged when the calculator data was created, so although strictly speaking it's a supported configuration we have no accurate way of predicting network bandwidth for that configuration at the present time. I'll take a decision on if we will address this scenario at a later point in time – if you're working on a project that would benefit from this, please let me know via the netcalc@microsoft.com address.
Beta 3 is planned for the first week in April. It'll include support for Outlook for Mac 2011.
Please continue to provide your valuable feedback - both positive and negative, to the netcalc@microsoft.com address. We love to read your comments!
Senior Consultant, MCS UK