Microsoft Details Security Upgrade For Exchange: Page 3 of 4

But the biggest news in the Exchange Edge Services announcement is the threat it poses to existing security vendors which sell firewall, anti-spam, and anti-virus solutions to protect mail servers and filter junk mail and malicious code from incoming messages.

"This really does signify a change in the anti-spam and anti-virus market," he said.

Jennings used the analogy of the disk defragmentation business, which while once booming, virtually vanished when Microsoft included a basic defrag utility within Windows. "There are a lot of people who don't see the benefit of paying more for a better product," he said, noting that this will play to Microsoft's advantage.

Third-party security vendors will have to react to Edge Services, he said, by using the APIs to integrate new releases with Microsoft's offering, and if they're going to be ready when Microsoft releases it next year, they'll have to get going ASAP.

"Vendors are going to have to adapt or they'll see a significant loss of their market."