Originally branded as AirSync and only supporting Microsoft Exchange Servers and Pocket PC devices, Microsoft now licenses the technology widely for synchronization between groupware and mobile devices in a number of competing collaboration platforms, including:
Beyond on premises installations of Exchange, the various personal and enterprise hosted services from Microsoft also utilize EAS, including Outlook.com and Office 365. The built-in email application for Windows 8 desktop, Mail app, also supports the protocol. Apart from the above, EAS client support is not included on:
The first version of EAS was a part of Mobile Information Server 2002. This version of EAS communicated over Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning to Exchange 2000 servers syncing Email, contacts, and calendar and allowed users to select a folder list to sync but this was only for email folders. This initial version of EAS has the user’s device “pull” data down rather than have the server “push” new information as soon as it was available.
2.0
EAS 2.0 shipped in Exchange Server 2003. This version of the protocol was developed by the Microsoft Windows Mobile team and was delivered as a binary drop to the Exchange Server team. EAS used WebDAV to connect to a user's mailbox and added the ability to sync non-default calendar and contacts folders. Always Up To Date was implemented as a way to let a device know if there was new information for it and Short Message Service was the technology used to deliver this information to the device. Because of the use of SMS as a notification, the configuration of an SMS gateway was required and each account needed to be configured with a user's mobile phone number.
2.1
In Exchange Server 2003 SP1 ghosting support was added to EAS 2.1. Ghosting tells server what they can sync and then all is sent down but when changes are sent up, only specified fields are changed. The EAS protocol also moved from a Globally Unique Identifier to 1:X short IDs for all items which reduced the amount of data sent across the wireless network.
2.5
EAS 2.5 was the first version of EAS to be written by the Exchange Server team. This version also introduced Direct Push, a real-time push e-mail solution which allows the server to say "I have a new item for you" and then tells the client device to do a sync.. Global Address List search was added to enable people to look up other co-workers in their company directory to find their email address. The ability to remotely wipe a device was also added so administrators could remove company data from a device that was lost, stolen, or after an employee left the company. Tasks syncing was added as was S/MIME email encryption and the following policies were added:
EAS 12.0 came with Exchange Server 2007. EAS 12.0 was a complete re-write of the protocol from its previous version. New features included password reset which allowed users to reset a forgotten PIN lock code, message flagging which gave users the ability to mark a message so they could remember to follow up on it when they got back to their computer, Out of Office setting so users could set an “away” message from their phone, SharePoint access from links in email, Empty deleted items to allow people to shrink their mailboxes so they didn’t exceed their mailbox size limits, fetch which allowed users to get only parts of a message and then choose later to get the rest of the message later, device info which allowed users and administrators to see which phones were connected to their accounts, and AutoDiscover which allowed phones to automatically configure the EAS connection with just a user login and password. The ability to see who was invited to a meeting was also added as well as the ability to search the server for an email that was not synced to the device. The new policies introduced were:
Allow attachment download
Maximum attachment size
Enable password recovery
Allow simple password
Password expiration
Enforce password history
Windows file share access
Windows SharePoint access
Encrypt storage card
12.1
EAS 12.1 came in Exchange Server 2007 SP1. This version of the protocol was one of the largest changes since version 2.5 and featured header compression to decrease the amount of data sent wirelessly, Multiple collections sync, a hanging sync which allowed the server to keep a communications channel open to the client at all times so battery life and data wouldn’t be consumed constantly turning on the radio and querying the server and was a “true push sync” solution, a confirmation of a completed remote wipe, as well as the following 30 new policies:
EAS 14.0 was introduced as part of Exchange Server 2010. This new version added a new conversation view that put email messages in a view connected by several attributes including a Message-ID and the email subject, notes syncing, the ability to look up the availability of a contact, a Nickname Cache which shared the names of common used contacts between Outlook Web App and EAS, the ability to set a server side rule to always move messages in a conversation, lunar calendar support, syncing of the reply state, a new way to identify unified messaging messages so that voicemail that appeared in a user’s inbox could be handled differently, SMS Syncing, and the following two new policies:
Allow Mobile OTA Update
Mobile OTA Update Mode
This is also the first version of EAS that identified clients that were using older versions of EAS and alerted them if there was an updated version of the client that would enable newer features.
14.1
EAS 14.1 came as part of Exchange Server 2010 SP1. This version of the protocol added , Message Diffs, added device/user information to the provision command so that the new Allow/Block/Quarantine feature could more easily allow administrators to control which devices connected to their organizations, and information rights management over EAS. EAS 14.1 may allow IRM over EAS.
16.0
EAS 16.0 was announced in June 2015 and was deployed in Office 365 first, followed by Exchange Server 2016. This new protocol version adds mainly 3 enhancements: Redesigned calendar synchronisation to avoid the most common EAS calendar syncing problems, added calendar attachments and syncing the email drafts folder.
16.1
EAS 16.1 was announced in June 2016 and was deployed in Office 365 first, followed by Exchange Server 2016. This version of the protocol contains three major capabilities: improved keyword search, propose new time and account-only remote wipe.
Licensing
Beginning in the early 2000s, EAS began to be available for licensing. At the time it was a client only protocol license. Motorola was the first licensee and began with a license of the 2.1 version of EAS. Various other organizations licensed EAS over time and Microsoft eventually started licensing the server side of EAS in 2007. The protocol licensing continued until 2008. In December 2008 Microsoft shifted its licensing of EAS from that of a protocol license, to licensing the patents of EAS and providing full protocol documentation. Because EAS is licensed as a series of patents, different clients and servers implement a subset of the entire features of the protocol and the implementations are written by each company that has obtained a license. Google uses an implementation of EAS for its G Suite subscribers. Likewise, IBM and Novell have implemented the technology to allow their competing groupware servers to support smartphones and other devices, through IBM Notes Traveler and Novell Data Synchronizer Mobility Pack, respectively.
Logo program
In April 2011, Microsoft launched the EAS logo program, which tests third-party EAS clients in mobile email devices. Handset manufacturers that have licensed the EAS protocol from Microsoft are eligible to join the program. In order to be compliant, EAS clients must employ EAS v14.0 or later and enable the following features and management policies:
