AzureFeeds

We are excited to announce the general availability of Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE). This release continues Microsoft’s long tradition of enabling customers to provide enterprise email service in the mode that’s best for their organization: in the cloud, on-premises, or in hybrid mode. While Exchange Online and Microsoft 365 will continue to offer the latest and most innovative solutions – including the integration of Microsoft 365 Copilot – Exchange SE demonstrates our commitment to ongoing support for scenarios where on-premises solutions remain critical.  

To help bring Exchange Server into the future, the Subscription Edition introduces some changes to the way Exchange is serviced and licensed. Unlike previous versions of Exchange, the Subscription Edition is governed by the Modern Lifecycle Policy. This means that from now on, support will have no fixed end date provided customers keep their configurations up-to-date. Instead, the Exchange SE codebase will be serviced continuously as an evergreen product, with no further major, year-numbered versions.

Release Details

As we’ve shared previously, the Exchange Server SE Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build can be installed as a Cumulative Update (CU) to Exchange Server 2019 CU14 or CU15 and can be joined to your Exchange 2016/2019 organizations (which, for Exchange 2016, would requires “classic” mailbox migration). For all of the details on the upgrade process as well as related FAQs, please see Upgrading your organization from current versions to Exchange Server SE.

For customers who are already using Exchange 2019 today, our recommendation is to in-place upgrade CU14 or CU15 servers to Exchange SE, which will switch them to the Exchange SE modern support lifecycle. Exchange SE RTM is unlike previous Exchange RTM releases, as it does not contain a major code upgrade and contains no major changes when compared to Exchange 2019 CU15. Please see Why “in-place upgrade” from Exchange 2019 to Exchange SE is low risk for more information.

To ease the in-place upgrade process from Exchange 2019 to Exchange SE RTM, the following is true when comparing Exchange SE RTM to Exchange 2019 CU15:

• No features were removed or added.


• No Active Directory schema changes (/PrepareAD might be required if upgrading from CU14).


• No installation prerequisites were changed.


• No new license keys are required.

The following are the differences from Exchange 2019 CU15:

• The License agreement (an RTF file shown only in the GUI version of Setup) was updated.


• The name was changed from Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 to Microsoft Exchange Server Subscription Edition.


• The build and version numbers were updated.


• Updates released since Exchange 2019 CU15 are integrated into Exchange SE RTM (this happens in every CU update).

Please see Exchange Server supportability matrix for Exchange SE installation prerequisite details.

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  Exchange Server SE RTM. VLSC, Download Center

  
  

Looking forward

While the RTM release of Exchange SE is currently identical to Exchange 2019 CU15, this will not remain the case. After support for Exchange 2016 and 2019 ends in October 2025, Exchange SE will be the only supported on-premises version of Exchange. This will create unique opportunities to simplify, streamline, and modernize the product over the coming years. We will continue releasing Exchange SE CUs at the same cadence of two CUs per calendar year, with Security or Hotfix updates being released as needed.

As end of support is fast approaching, please work on upgrading your organizations to Exchange SE as soon as possible and decommission Exchange 2016 or 2019. Just as Exchange 2019 CU15 blocks coexistence with Exchange 2013, Exchange SE CU2 will require that no Exchange 2016 or 2019 servers are installed in the organization. Future Exchange SE CUs will also modernize installation prerequisites, start requiring Exchange SE server keys, and bring new features.

For those with multiple on-premises server needs, we’re pleased to add that Skype for Business Server Subscription Edition is also generally available today. You can read more about that release on the Skype for Business blog.

We look forward to your feedback and thank you for your continued support and love of Exchange.

The Exchange Server Team