OVHcloud has completed the upgrade of its Exchange 2019 environments to Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE). All of our Exchange customers are now being served by up-to-date platforms. Building on years of running Exchange, our teams conducted the upgrade responsively, ensuring a solution with the highest level of maintenance and security.
This article clarifies the benefits of Exchange SE and explains how OVHcloud orchestrated the upgrade of thousands of servers at such a large scale.
New Exchange upgrade: from Exchange 2019 to Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE)
Microsoft is opening a new chapter for its email server: with Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE), the publisher is moving away from the major version model (2016, 2019, etc.) to adopt the Modern Lifecycle Policy. In practical terms, Exchange is becoming an ‘evergreen’ platform – updated continuously with patches, improvements, and new features, rather than through one-off releases – similar to the Windows 10 or Windows 11 model.
What this changes for Exchange SE users
The interface and usage will feel familiar. The major difference is the continuous pace of development: new features and improvements for Exchange SE will arrive via cumulative updates (CUs), without waiting for the next “big release”. The new features start with SE CU1 and will continue from there.
- Modernised search and indexing
- New themes and interface adjustments
- Contacts link with LinkedIn
- Embedding and playing videos in emails
- Server-side performance optimisations
This list will change as updates are made, and is detailed on Microsoft Learn.
A smooth and transparent upgrade for your end users, led by OVHcloud
The transition to Exchange Server SE affects all organisations. At OVHcloud, we have managed this update end-to-end so that it is invisible to end users and managed for administrators.
Our teams operate thousands of Exchange servers on a daily basis. For years, we have industrialised critical operations (updates, integrity checks, post-deployment verifications) to make them automated, repeatable, and safe. This approach allowed us to complete the migration to Exchange SE more than fifteen days before the end of support for Exchange 2019 (14 October 2025), while ensuring service continuity.
In practical terms:
- OVHcloud hosted Exchange solutions: users were not affected by any service interruptions.
- Private Exchange: a short intervention window (less than two hours) was needed; notifications were sent to the affected customers before and after the migration.
This operational excellence has resulted in up-to-date, secure, and high-performing messaging, while keeping pricing competitive thanks to the time and efficiency gains achieved through our industrialisation.
Conclusion
OVHcloud has completed the migration to Exchange Server SE, ensuring all its customers have up-to-date, maintained, and secure messaging. Thanks to our industrialised operations, the switch was made ahead of schedule, with no interruptions on shared platforms and with controlled windows for Private Exchange. Now, you get to enjoy a high-performing environment, ready to continuously receive Exchange SE improvements.
