Major new Microsoft software is speeding its way towards us. Windows, Office, and Exchange have all announced major new releases, the first in 4 years. Microsoft’s stated intent with this new software is to deliver a tighter integration between their products, to streamline business operations and reduce technology costs, and to enable a business to form a better understanding of and ability to serve their end customers.

So, do these new releases deliver on this promise?

Taken in combination, the answer is probably yes, although the migration to this new day is not without its potential hurdles.

From an end user perspective, there are several notable new features. Dynamic toolbars, for example, will replace multi-layered drop-down menu structures, so less time is spent in basic tasks like formatting and spellchecking documents. Permission-based alerts and notifications are enabled through RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, that can deliver the information needed to work efficiently and make sound business decisions, without being swamped by random data or unwanted promotional messages. Vista delivers a comprehensive search facility that from a single desktop toolbar can help locate documents, emails, or tasks on an individual computer or laptop, network, or the Internet. Anyone who’s ever wasted valuable time trying to locate a lost document or email (and who hasn’t?), will appreciate this.

The mantra of always on, always connected, is closer to becoming a reality as well. Recent Gartner Group research indicates that as many as 600,000 laptops are stolen or lost in the United States every year, and 80% of their content is not replicated anywhere. The loss in productivity is significant, as the computing device is replaced and reconfigured. But new Vista functionality can automatically backup and synchronize all key data, so the loss of a physical device need not overly disrupt the business at hand.

There are enhanced security features, too. A new windows bit-locker capability automatically encrypts data as it is stored to a hard drive, so that it cannot be hacked in the event of theft.

Unified messaging (the ability to obtain emails, voicemails, and faxes in a single application) has taken several steps forward thanks to a tighter integration between Outlook and Exchange, and document management is now noticeably easier as a result of better integration between Office and SharePoint.

Perhaps one of the most interesting long-term developments is that Exchange can now communicate seamlessly with any Windows Mobile Device without requiring 3rd. party servers, such as is the case today with Blackberry. Given the recent proliferation in the use of wireless devices, and coupled with an expected increase in available (and cost-effective) bandwidth, this could be a significant boon to mobile computing.

These are all meaningful advances, to be sure, but they do come at a price. The first consideration is that realizing these benefits really requires using all three software products simultaneously, so staging migration over time is not necessarily the most cost-effective way to proceed. The other major requirement is that of 64-bit compliant hardware to run this new software, which many businesses will not today possess.

All in all, a new day is dawning, but as always the journey there must be carefully planned to deliver the best business results.