Update: Please not that Exchange 2010 SP3 adds support for coexistence with Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 1 (will be released in Q1 2013). Text below changed to reflect that.

It’s been a evening full of updates! It seems like Microsoft saved the best for last since Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3 was released minutes ago (just beaten by Update Rollup 10 for Exchange 2007 SP 3 and Update Rollup 6 for Exchange 2010 SP2).

The big news in Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3 is of course the ability to coexist with Exchange 2013 CU1 but let’s not forget the support for running Exchange 2010 on Windows Server 2012 witch can save a bit of money running a DAG. As mentioned above Exchange 2013 CU1  will be released in Q1 and it’s the first out of the new update model for Exchange 2013.

I suggest you take a good look at the Release Notes for Service Pack 3 but I would like to point out the following:

• Exchange 2010 SP3 makes updates to the Active Directory schema
• The database schema has been updated in Exchange 2010 SP3. As a result, when Mailbox servers are upgraded to Exchange 2010 SP3, the databases are upgraded to the Exchange 2010 SP3 version of the database schema. After a database has been updated to the Exchange 2010 SP3 schema, it can’t be mounted on a pre-Exchange 2010 SP3 Mailbox server.

On the following links you can download Exchange 2010 Service Pack 3, read the  What’s New in Exchange 2010 SP3 and don’t forget to check out the blog at MSExchangeTeam about SP3.

I will be back with more info on how to upgrade and coexistence soon!