Exchange 2000 Server also will allow USi to offer a shared hosting option, so clients can reduce costs by sharing an Exchange Server with one or more other companies. Currently, USi is running a successful pilot with 15 companies on a single shared server. The value to the Exchange hosting solution includes all of these. A cluster consists of two or more computers, or nodes, that are connected to each other and a shared storage device. One or more Exchange virtual servers exist in the cluster and each virtual server runs on one of the nodes in the cluster.
Clients connect to the virtual servers the same way they connect to a stand-alone server.
The cluster service monitors the virtual servers in the cluster and, in the event of a failure, the cluster service restarts or moves the affected virtual servers to a healthy node. For planned outages, USi can manually move the virtual servers to other nodes. Because of its tight integration with Windows 2000, Exchange 2000 Server also delivers advanced security features. USi plans to take advantage of Windows 2000 security features and provide new remote access solutions, customized views, and distributed authority. Exchange 2000 Information Store Active Directory makes it easier to manage the new Exchange 2000 Server Web Storage System.