Johann's Unified Communications : activesync

Exchange Activesync protocols now open

jkruse — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 04:00:12 GMT

A further sign of Microsoft’s commitment towards being more open is that the protocols for Exchange Activesync (EAS) have now been published to the public (previously they were only available to licensees).

EAS is already built into pretty much every major smartphone/PDA out there – but now that it is open I’m sure we will see some innovative and creative apps/tools from the developer community.

Documentation of the EAS protocols is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc307725.aspx

From the press release:

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 18, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it is expanding its Exchange ActiveSync Intellectual Property (IP) Licensing program, facilitated by Version 1.0 releases of technical documentation for protocols built into Exchange ActiveSync, which Microsoft posted on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) earlier this month. The posting of this documentation completes the set of Exchange ActiveSync protocols Microsoft committed to publish as part of its Interoperability Principles announced in February 2008 (http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/default.mspx).

“The Exchange ActiveSync IP Licensing program is another example of how we are continuing to deliver on our commitment to increased openness and collaboration,” said Horacio Gutierrez, vice president of intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft. “This technology is being sought out by our partners and competitors alike because it enhances their value proposition to their customers, and we believe that to be a testament to the innovation taking place at Microsoft.”

Exchange ActiveSync Certificate-Based Authentication Tool

jkruse — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 12:21:43 GMT

The Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Certificate-Based authentication tool provides several utilities to assist an Exchange administrator in configuring and validating client certificate authentication for Exchange Server ActiveSync.

These utilities include:

A tool to assist the administrator in configuring certificate enrollment for mobile devices connecting to Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2. Specifically, the tool will help the administrator populate the Active Directory with the following information to be used by the mobile device when enrolling for a certificate:

Certification authority (CA) server name
Certificate template that will be used
Other settings, such as custom Web enrollment URLs

Because the tool writes information to the Active Directory, it must be run by someone with domain administrator privileges.

Additional tools to validate that a mobile device can successfully retrieve the above configuration information from the Active Directory.
Documentation outlining the server configuration steps necessary to enable & require certificate-based authentication for Exchange ActiveSync.

Download it now from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=82510e18-7965-4883-a8c3-f73f1f4733ac&DisplayLang=en

Technorati Tags: activesync, windows mobile, wm6, exchange 2007, tools, management, certificates, download