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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →On March 29, 2006, Microsoft announced that the managed messaging services it had acquired from FrontBridge Technologies would be marketed as Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services (EHS). The name covered a suite—not a new edition of Exchange Server—with four offerings for email filtering, archiving, continuity, and encryption. The change followed Microsoft’s 2005 acquisition of FrontBridge and placed its hosted services within the Exchange portfolio.
Microsoft acquired FrontBridge before changing its name
Microsoft announced its intention to acquire FrontBridge Technologies on July 20, 2005, and said the acquisition was complete on August 31, 2005. FrontBridge provided managed services for corporate email security, compliance, and availability. Its functions included spam and virus filtering, encryption, archiving and retrieval, policy enforcement, and continuity during outages. Microsoft’s acquisition announcement described the company’s role in protecting business email and supporting recovery.
The Exchange Hosted Services branding came about seven months after the acquisition closed. Microsoft announced it on March 29, 2006; Network World reported on the rebrand the following day. This was an integration and portfolio-positioning announcement, not the date Microsoft bought FrontBridge.
What Exchange Hosted Services included
The Exchange name grouped four hosted services under one portfolio. They were designed to handle specific messaging risks and operational needs:
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Hosted Filtering
Filtering screened inbound and outbound email for spam, viruses, phishing, and malware. It also offered content and policy enforcement and hosted quarantine. A business could place this filtering layer ahead of its own mail environment rather than rely solely on locally installed filtering infrastructure.
Hosted Archive
Archive provided an indexed, searchable store for messages, with retention support and compliance-oriented reporting. Network World’s 2006 account reported unlimited retention and 3.6 GB of storage per user under the launch-era pricing model; those details describe the historical offer, not a current Microsoft plan.
Hosted Continuity
Continuity was intended to preserve access to messaging during an outage or emergency. Network World described a repository designed to mirror the previous 30 days of email activity, supporting backup and recovery when a customer’s ordinary messaging environment was unavailable.
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Hosted Encryption
Encryption applied policy-based protection through a hosted gateway so confidential messages could be protected before or during delivery.
How the hosted model worked
Microsoft described EHS as an Internet-delivered service that did not require customers to install hardware or software on premises for the hosted functions. Its stated case for this model was reduced upfront capital spending and less infrastructure to manage. The trade-off was that customers relied on an external provider to handle messages and deliver the service, while paying recurring per-user fees.
In its July 2005 acquisition announcement, Microsoft described FrontBridge’s service-delivery infrastructure as globally distributed and redundant, with eight datacenters worldwide. That was Microsoft’s description of the infrastructure behind the availability proposition, not independently audited performance data.
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Reported launch-era prices
Network World reported the following per-user monthly prices in March 2006. They are historical launch-era figures, not current Microsoft pricing.
| 2006 offering | Reported price per user per month |
|---|---|
| Hosted Filtering | $1.75 |
| Hosted Archive | $17.25 |
| Hosted Continuity | $2.50 |
| Hosted Encryption | $1.90 |
Microsoft announced a per-user licensing model and a free 30-day trial for Hosted Filtering. Network World reported that Microsoft planned to sell the services through volume-licensing contracts and service providers, with availability to volume-licensing customers planned from April 1, 2006. The prices above come from that contemporary report; Microsoft’s announcement confirmed the licensing model and trial but did not list those individual prices. Network World’s report provides the reported price details.
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Exchange branding did not mean Exchange-only support
Despite the new name, Microsoft said FrontBridge would continue supporting Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, and other SMTP-compliant mail servers. EHS was positioned within Microsoft’s Exchange portfolio, but its hosted services were not limited to organizations running Exchange. That mattered for mixed environments and for businesses using a different email platform.
The rebrand also did not establish that FrontBridge’s underlying technology had been replaced with Exchange Server code. Microsoft’s announcements document an acquisition, an integration into the Exchange business, and a new market-facing identity—not a technical account of a wholesale rebuild.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why Microsoft put Exchange in the name
Microsoft presented EHS as an addition to the Exchange Server solution portfolio and part of its software-as-a-service strategy. The intent was to offer hosted protection and messaging functions alongside customers’ self-managed Exchange environments, giving organizations another way to handle security, retention, and availability needs. The Exchange team described hosted services as a complement to self-hosted Exchange and noted support for other SMTP systems. Microsoft’s Exchange team announcement framed hosted and self-hosted services as choices within the portfolio.
Microsoft also reported that, since acquiring FrontBridge, its customer base had grown 25 percent and its partner resellers 20 percent. These were figures stated by Microsoft in its 2006 announcement, not independently verified market measurements.
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What Microsoft said was coming next
Microsoft’s March 2006 announcement outlined plans rather than a record of features already delivered. It identified EHS 5.3 as part of the near-term roadmap and described a 6.x release series aligned with the next Exchange release, then referred to as “Exchange 12” and later known as Exchange Server 2007. Planned additions included calendar and contacts support for Hosted Continuity and Hosted Archive, improved directory integration, and broader language support. The announcement establishes that Microsoft planned these changes; it does not, by itself, confirm the delivery of every planned feature.
What the 2006 rebrand meant
Exchange Hosted Services was Microsoft’s Exchange-branded portfolio for hosted email security, archiving, continuity, and encryption, built around capabilities acquired from FrontBridge. It marked an effort to put hosted messaging services alongside traditional self-managed Exchange deployments. The available announcements establish that history, but do not establish a complete product lineage from EHS to any particular current Microsoft security or compliance product.
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