Earlier today at the IT Forum in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft announced Exchange 12 will be exclusively 64-bit – it will only run on x86 64-bit processors! Other products, most notably Longhorn Server, will also support 64-bit only.
This should mark the shift to 64-bit computing next year.
Many organizations currently acquiring x86 64-bit hardware still end up installing 32-bit Windows Server OSes on these new servers.
The Windows Server OS itself has been available in a 64-bit edition for long now, but applications like Exchange Server will not run on a 64-bit OS, making it pointless to buy 64-bit now except for the assurance of being able to upgrade to 64-bit OS and apps as and when they become available.
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