Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 news!
So, no Cumulative Update 3 (CU3) news but as promised by the Exchange Team they posted Exchange 2013 Service Pack 1 (SP1) news on the Exchange Team blog! It is coming early 2014, which I interpret as the first quarter of 2014. Because I now think CU3 will be released somewhere around early December (hint), I think SP1 could hit us around March. But I’ve been wrong before 
There are some features mentioned:
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Support
This is not surprising, but nonetheless very welcome. I had hoped it would be in CU3 although CU4 would’ve been a more realistic timeframe, when regarding the quarterly update releases and the release date of Windows Server 2012 R2.
- S/MIME support for OWA
Although I haven’t encountered this feature much and thus didn’t miss it much, I am glad it’s back.
- Edge Transport Server Role
I find this a surprising move, as I would’ve expected that they would scrap it. Perhaps Exchange Online Protection (EOP, The Product Previously Known As FOPE) isn’t attractive enough, or they want to have a bite out of the mail appliances market. I am interested whether there will be new features introduced compared to Exchange 2010.
- Fixes and Improvement
Well, not that surprising 
. I do have to wonder what the real difference is between Cumulative Updates and Service Packs. I guess time will tell.
There are some things I kinda miss in this little summary, but it could be that they are already included in CU3.
Anyways: Go read the Exchange Team Blog post on Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1!