Today we announced officially that the next version of Small Business Server does actually exist. But of course you already knew that. :)
The offical name is Windows Small Business Server 2008, and is already published up on Microsoft.com.The even better news, is Microsoft has created a family of solutions product, of which SBS is the old-timer. The Windows Essential Server Solutions family. This of course includes the familiar Small Business Server product, as well as Medium sized Essential Business Server 2008.
So what can we talk about with this new version of Small Business Server 2008?
The Standard Edition - Contains the following Microsoft Products:
- Windows Standard Server 2008
- Exchange Server 2007
- Windows SharePoint Services v3
- Microsoft Forefront security for Exchange
- Windows Live OneCare for the Server
- Integration with Office Live (in countries where Office Live is available)
The Premium Edition - Contains the following Microsoft Products:
- All of SBS Standard Edition
- An additional copy of Windows Standard Server
- SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition
There is a change in the way Client Access Licenses (CALs) work. Standard edition will have Standard CALs and Premium will have Premium CALs
Beyond the basics, what do you get?
Integrated and Consumable
Similar to SBS 2003, there is an integrated setup to setup all the different work-loads. Additionally, a centralized administration console to administrate common tasks on the network. Server monitoring, and much much more!
Protecting your data
Out of the box protection of Exchange through Forefront Security, and Antivirus for the server from Windows Live OneCare for the Server. A completely new backup solution to provide more robustness and speed of your daily backups. And network-wide management of patches through Windows Software Update Services!
Business Capacity
Integration with online services such as Office Live (available in countries that Office Live is available only). A brand-new Remote Web Workplace design, the out of the box availability of SharePoint version 3, and the Premium sku to help you grow capacity.
When will it be available?
We're currently targetting the second half of this 2008!
Hungry for more information?
- Check out this press release.
- Point your browsers over to the official Microsoft.com SBS 2008 website.
- The Official SBS Blog.
1 comments:
It look pretty sweet, i especially like the idea of a second server license for the premium version.
Its frustrating to see 2 different CAL's required though... Its too bad Microsoft cant get past the CAL idea, it would be nice to see them get away from hidden costs and be a little more straight forward with the pricing. Drop the CAL's and raise the upfront cost of the associated products. I would much rather tell my clients that SBS costs $XXXX at the time of purchase , instead of explaining to them that they have to pay $XXX for the OS, $XXX for the client OS's, then have to pay $XXX for CAL's, they dont seem to understand that.
Keep the CAL's for non Microsoft clients, but, build them in to Windows clients, stop nickle and diming us to death...
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