Microsoft has once again released an updated set of the Office 365 for Enterprise Service Descriptions. Just as in January, I did a comparison of the changes. All major updates are listed below. The only document that has received significant updates is the Service Description for Exchange Online, all other documents are still the same (except for a few minor wording changes)

 

Exchange Online

Senders’ Photos in Outlook Web App As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, Outlook Web App incorporates photos of users stored in Active Directory as part of its user interface. For example, when users receive emails from coworkers, they can see the senders’ photos in the reading pane in Outlook Web App. When users search for coworkers in the Global Address List using Outlook Web App, the coworkers’ photos are displayed. Mobile devices that support the latest version of Exchange ActiveSync can also display photos from Active Directory. Outlook 2010 also includes new features that incorporate photos of users stored in Active Directory. There are two ways to get user photos into the Exchange Online environment and enable these features: • End users upload their photos manually through the User Settings screen in the Microsoft Online Portal. • Administrators populate the ThumbnailPhoto user attribute in on-premises Active Directory; the Directory Synchronization tool will automatically synchronize the user photo to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online. Outlook Web App in Internet Explorer 9 As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, Outlook Web App can be pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar using Internet Explorer 9 Pinned Sites. This gives users the ability to launch Outlook Web App with one click and run it with fewer distractions, separated from other browser sessions. It also keeps users informed of incoming email and instant messages when minimized or hidden and offers quick access to common Outlook Web App commands from the Windows 7 taskbar. See the Windows topic Pinned Sites for details. Senders’ Photos in Outlook Web App As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, Outlook Web App incorporates photos of users stored in Active Directory as part of its user interface. For example, when users receive emails from coworkers, they can see the senders’ photos in the reading pane in Outlook Web App. When users search for coworkers in the Global Address List using Outlook Web App, the coworkers’ photos are displayed. Mobile devices that support the latest version of Exchange ActiveSync can also display photos from Active Directory. Outlook 2010 also includes new features that incorporate photos of users stored in Active Directory. There are two ways to get user photos into the Exchange Online environment and enable these features: • End users upload their photos manually through the User Settings screen in the Microsoft Online Portal. • Administrators populate the ThumbnailPhoto user attribute in on-premises Active Directory; the Directory Synchronization tool will automatically synchronize the user photo to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online. Outlook Web App in Internet Explorer 9 As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, Outlook Web App can be pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar using Internet Explorer 9 Pinned Sites. This gives users the ability to launch Outlook Web App with one click and run it with fewer distractions, separated from other browser sessions. It also keeps users informed of incoming email and instant messages when minimized or hidden and offers quick access to common Outlook Web App commands from the Windows 7 taskbar. See the Windows topic Pinned Sites for details. Senders’ Photos in Outlook Web App As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, Outlook Web App incorporates photos of users stored in Active Directory as part of its user interface. For example, when users receive emails from coworkers, they can see the senders’ photos in the reading pane in Outlook Web App. When users search for coworkers in the Global Address List using Outlook Web App, the coworkers’ photos are displayed. Mobile devices that support the latest version of Exchange ActiveSync can also display photos from Active Directory. Outlook 2010 also includes new features that incorporate photos of users stored in Active Directory. There are two ways to get user photos into the Exchange Online environment and enable these features: • End users upload their photos manually through the User Settings screen in the Microsoft Online Portal. • Administrators populate the ThumbnailPhoto user attribute in on-premises Active Directory; the Directory Synchronization tool will automatically synchronize the user photo to Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online. Outlook Web App in Internet Explorer 9 As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, Outlook Web App can be pinned to the Windows 7 taskbar using Internet Explorer 9 Pinned Sites. This gives users the ability to launch Outlook Web App with one click and run it with fewer distractions, separated from other browser sessions. It also keeps users informed of incoming email and instant messages when minimized or hidden and offers quick access to common Outlook Web App commands from the Windows 7 taskbar. See the Windows topic Pinned Sites for details.

 

BlackBerry Devices Users of Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry devices canBlackBerry Business Cloud Services (BBCS) is hosted by Research In Motion (RIM) and extends Exchange Online services to BlackBerry smartphones. Administrators are able to perform cloud-based provisioning and management of BlackBerry smartphones within this environment. BBCS utilizes familiar underlying RIM technology and functionality experienced with BlackBerry services and provides BlackBerry email, calendar, and personal information management experience for Exchange Online (Plan 1) and Exchange Online (Plan 2) users. See the BlackBerry Business Cloud Services (BBCS) Service Description for details. Users of BlackBerry devices can also connect their devices to Exchange Online using the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS). This service allows BlackBerry users to access their e-mail accounts without connecting through a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). It does not provide the same capabilities as a BES server or a hosted BES service. Exchange Online (Plan 1) and Exchange Online (Plan 2) users can configure BIS to access their mailboxes via IMAP. Exchange Online Kiosk users can configure BIS to access their mailboxes via POP. Note A hosted BES service is not currently available. Research in Motion (RIM) has announced a new hosted BES service for Office 365 customers that they plan to make available later this year. The service will be hosted, licensed, and supported by RIM, who have committed to offer their new BlackBerry cloud-based service for Exchange Online starting at $0 per user per month. See the BlackBerry Business Cloud Services overview for details.

 

Microsoft Exchange PST Capture Microsoft Exchange PST Capture allows administrators to search for PST files on computers in their organizations and then import those files to mailboxes in their organizations. PST Capture works with both on-premises Exchange servers and Exchange Online. PST Capture is comprised of the following components: • PST Capture Central Service: At the heart of PST Capture is the PST Capture Central Service, which maintains the list of all PST files found in an administrator’s organization and manages the data as it is moved to the Exchange Servers or Exchange Online. • PST Capture Agent: Discovery of the PST files is performed by PST Capture agents that are installed on computers in the organization. The agents also send the PST files they find to the host computer when an import operation is started on the PST Capture Console. • PST Capture Console: The PST Capture Console is the interface the administrator uses to configure PST searches, specify the target mailboxes for PST files, and track the status of PST import operations and reports. The PST Capture Agent then sends status updates from previous actions to the Central Service. See the TechNet article Microsoft Exchange PST Capture for details.

 

Email Migration Dashboard As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, administrators can use the Email Migration dashboard in the Exchange Control Panel to manage mailbox migration to Exchange Online using a cutover or staged Exchange migration. Administrators can also use the dashboard to migrate the contents of users’ mailboxes from an on-premises IMAP server to existing cloud-based mailboxes. The dashboard gives administrators the following capabilities: • Create and schedule multiple migration batches: Administrators can create and queue up to 100 migration batches for a staged Exchange migration or an IMAP migration. Only one migration batch runs at a time, but administrators can queue up multiple batches, so when a migration batch is finished running the next batch in the queue starts. • Restart a migration batch with failures: After the initial synchronization for a migration batch, where items are copied from on-premises mailboxes to the cloud mailboxes for each user in the migration batch, some mailboxes may fail synchronization. Now administrators can restart that migration batch and try to synchronize the failed mailboxes. • Get details about skipped items: For cutover Exchange migrations and staged Exchange migrations, the migration dashboard now displays information about the specific items that were skipped, including the reason why the items skipped and the location of the item in the user’s mailbox. • Open migration reports: Administrators can open migration statistics or migration error report for a migration batch right from the dashboard. • Edit a migration batch: If a migration batch for a staged Exchange migration or an IMAP migration is in the migration queue (but isn’t currently running), administrators can edit the migration batch by submitting a new CSV file, changing the connection settings, or changing the number of mailboxes to migrate simultaneously. See the help topic Manage Migration Batches in Exchange Online for details. Troubleshooting Migration Errors As part of the Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update, improved diagnostic capabilities help administrators troubleshoot migration errors. For example, Remote PowerShell can be used to display diagnostic information for a migration batch named MigrationBatch1 (Get–MigrationBatch –Identity MigrationBatch1 –Diagnostic), as well as display migration statistics and diagnostic information for a user with a primary SMTP address of user@example.com (Get–MigrationUserStatistics –Identity user@example.com –Diagnostic). See the help topic Email Migration Users Status Report for details.

 

Hybrid Configuration Wizard The Hybrid Configuration Wizard can help to streamline the hybrid deployment process by simplifying configuration of features and services. Introduced as part of Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 2, the Hybrid Configuration Wizard consists of the following components: • A new Exchange Management Console (EMC) wizard that guides administrators through the end-to-end process for configuring a hybrid deployment. • A set of Exchange Management Shell (EMS) commands that orchestrate the configuration process. • Improvements to the manageability of some of the underlying hybrid features. See the TechNet article Hybrid Deployments with the Hybrid Configuration Wizard for details.

 

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