Microsoft has pulled the veil off of Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2010, which is due later this year. Exchange Server Service Pack 2 is expected to help Exchange administrators to better tailor individual global address list views. It includes Outlook Web App (OWA) Mini, cross-site silent redirection for OWA 2010, a hybrid configuration wizard and address book policies. It also addresses hundreds of bug fixes requested by customers.

“Migrating content to the cloud is not easy,” said Tom Phillips, an Exchange Server consultant at Wadeware LLC in Kirkland, Wash. “The wizard shows the thought and effort Microsoft has put into Office 365.”

But the feature anticipated by most administrators is address book policies — also known as global address list (GAL) segmentation. This will let admins designate which parts of the GAL specific users can access. GAL segmentation was not available in Exchange 2010 RTM or SP1, and list segregation could only be accomplished with workarounds.

“This feature is especially important for schools because their user population is cyclic,” Phillips said. “With hundreds of students coming and going every year, you don’t want them to be able to access faculty info, etc.”