I am here in Atlanta at TechEd 2011 and just finished the session on whats new in Exchange Service Pack 2. Good session. During the session it was brought up when SP2 would be released and what some of the new features will be.

The first thing to talk about is SP2 is currently in DF1 mode meaning it is currently being tested internally. The update will fix an estimated 500 bugs and carry some new features. For the user community the update will be released in the second half of 2011. Sorry, that is all the info I have there. I was hoping for third quarter personally. The update will require a schema update to active directory so be ready

During the sessions a few of the new features were presented for the first time. Those features include GAL Segmentation, OWA Cross Site Redirection, and OWA Mini.

GAL Segmentation is what it sounds. It will allow an exchange admin to have multiple GAL that are filtered to users based on a new feature called Address Book Policy (ABP). The ABP allows an administrator to assign to a user which address books, GALs, rooms, and users they can see. I say users because if a person looks at an distribution list that contains users from different GALs and the user doesn’t have permission to see that GAL the ABP will filter out those users. Make sense? In order for this feature to work the users have to be on Exchange 2010 SP2 and be accessing their mailbox through a CAS 2010 Sp2 server. This is a big plus to organizations where they do not want other users to see each other if in different address books. I should point out that with the Distribution List being filtered to only users you can see you will still send to all users in he DL. So be careful!

The next big feature was the OWA Cross Site Redirection. As it stands now when a user hits OWA and logs in to their mailbox, if that user resides in another Internet facing AD Site they will be presented with a link to click to get to their OWA URL. Once they click that link the user will need to enter their username and password again. With the new feature in Exchange 2010 SP2 this will no linger be the case! Users will now automatically be logged in to the redirected site. This gives the users a single sign on experience!

The final feature that was discussed was OWA Mini. OWA Mini is basically OMA brought back using new code. The URL will reside as a virtual directory under OWA/OMA. If you are in an organization that requires OWA policies have no fear. OWA Mini will use the OWA policies! Basically when a user logs in they will get their FBA and supply their credentials. The screen that the user receives is basic and will be used on their device or phone.
The menu looks something like this:
1)Inbox
2)Calendar
3)Contacts
4)Tasks – yes tasks!
5)Find Someone
6)New
7)Search Mail
8)Browse Folders
9)Options
0)About

This feature was brought back because of user demand. I should also point out that ActiveSync Policies are not applied to the OWA Mini.

Some pretty cool features. My favorite is the GAL Segmentation using Address Book Policies. I did manage to take a picture of one of the slides. Take a look and let me know if you have any questions!

Finally look for a blog post huge Exchange Team tomorrow for more details on Exchange 2010 SP2. I would post a link but typing this blog post from my iPhone is pretty limited.

Update – The MSExchange Team has posted an update regarding Exchange 2010 SP2.  You can read it here.