Overview

Background

The onsite Exchange hybrid servers are required to handle email flow between the cloud hosted Office 365 and onsite email services. These require upgrading to ensure they are aligned to Office 365 requirements.

There is a possible option to deploy Exchange SP3 only which, if agreed and if aligned with the overall email and diary service roadmap and strategy, would remove the need to upgrade the onsite Exchange hybrid servers to Exchange 2016. 

The project will include a 2 month pause to allow:

1. External task - discuss options with ITI (this will be funded / delivered outside the project by Service Management)
2. External task - a research / analysis task which will review experience in other universities (this will be funded / delivered outside the project by Service Management)
3. External task - the development of an overall email roadmap and strategy (this will be funded / delivered outside the project by Service Management).

A project decision point will follow delivery of the email and diary service roadmap and strategy - the possible options at this point will be to stop the project (ie following deployment of SP3) or to continue with the upgrade of the onsite Exchange hybrid servers to Exchange 2016. 

Scope

Deploy Exchange SP3.

Reach a decision on whether to upgrade the onsite Exchange 2010 hybrid servers to Exchange 2016 and carry out this upgrade if needed. This decision is dependent on agreement over the Email and Diary service roadmap being developed to provide clarity over the future of Staffmail and onsite mail routing.

Objectives

The aim of this project is to update our onsite Exchange servers that handle mail-flow to Office 365 in order to enable ongoing support and by aligning them as closely as practical with the cloud environment to reduce the risk of support issues with mail flow.

Deliverables

1. Deployed and tested Exchange SP3 (Must)
2. Decision on whether upgraded hybrid servers will be needed in the medium term (>2 years in the future) (Must)
3. Upgraded onsite Exchange hybrid servers to Exchange 2016 (Must - if decision taken to upgrade servers)
4. Validated test environment (Must - if decision taken to upgrade servers)
5. Validated and tested provisioner (Must - if decision taken to upgrade servers)

Benefits

Mail hybrid servers will be in extended support until 2020 (additional 3 years) with deliverable 1.

IS will have improved access to the knowledge base and expertise for routing mail with Office 365.

Success Criteria

Successful deployment and testing of Exchange SP3.

Decision on medium term future of hybrid mail servers.