Microsoft has been holding its Office 12 cards close to the vest. But it's becoming increasingly apparent that there will be some new Office Server products in the company's next-generation Office suite lineup.

Sources close to Microsoft say the company is well on its way to developing a server version of its desktop Excel spreadsheet product. And Microsoft has been hinting since 2003 that it is strongly considering adding a server version of its Visio charting/diagramming product to its family of Office System products.

The trade magazine CRN reported earlier this week that the Redmond, Wash., company also has a server version of its InfoPath electronic-forms application on the drawing board.

Office 12 is the code name for the next major version of Microsoft's Office System client and server products. Microsoft has not released a public delivery date for Office 12, but most company watchers are expecting it to ship in the 2006-plus "Longhorn wave" time frame. Microsoft has said Office 12 won't be tied to Longhorn, however. Office 12 products also are expected to run on older versions of Windows, most likely Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft already offers a handful of server products under its Office System umbrella. Its current Office Servers are Content Management Server, its Web-publishing product; Exchange Server, its e-mail server; Live Communications Server, its enterprise instant-messaging product; Project Server, its project-management offering; and SharePoint Portal Server, its team-collaboration product.

Microsoft corporate vice president Kurt DelBene oversees these products in his role as head of the Microsoft Office Server Group.
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Source : eWeek