Microsoft Says New Server Family `Essential` for Midmarket - Closing the Gap
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"There
was a pretty wide gap, and now we will be able to close that," VanRoekel said.
Small
Business Server is targeted at businesses with up to 75 seats and enterprise-level
products are aimed at businesses with more than 250 seats or devices, he said,
leaving a void into which most midmarket businesses fall.
With
the introduction, he said, customers have more options based on their budgets,
their customers, their IT needs and their resources, he said. Partners
will be able to serve their customers better by offering products that
more closely fit their business requirements, their budgets and their
resources.
VanRoekel
said that, currently, Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium edition ships
with a copy of SQL Server. But partners said they often installed SQL Server
on a separate server other than SBS for
redundancy and scalability.
Based
on that feedback, Windows SBS 2008 Premium
edition, he said, will now ship with a separate copy of SBS
and a separate copy of SQL Server to accommodate partner and customer demands.
"Now,
they can install a separate copy of SQL on an entirely different server, so
that if any applications running on that fail, they don't take down the entire
server network," VanRoekel said. The change also improves partners'
ability to easily scale a customer's business applications as they grow and
need additional server space, he said.
Virtualization
capabilities are also included, since the products are based on Windows Server
2008 Standard edition, which includes virtualization, VanRoekel said.
In
addition, the Essential Server family will include server anti-virus, e-mail
filtering via Forefront Security for Exchange and integrated online
collaboration tools, he said. For instance, if a partner sets up SBS
and connects a customer to the Internet, that partner can also offer one-click
access to buy a domain name, VanRoekel said. Since many SMBs don't have a
company-specific domain name, this can be a crucial service offering for
partners.
"A
lot of SMBs will have a Hotmail or a Yahoo address, which doesn't make them
look very professional," he said. This collaboration tool lets
partners help their customers buy a domain name and set up their e-mail
server correctly, VanRoekel said. Office Live Small Business is also included,
which gives partners the opportunity to create customer Web sites quickly
and efficiently.
Sharepoint
for sharing secure documents is also included, as well as a free trial of
AdWords to introduce small and midmarket customers to digital marketing and
online advertising, VanRoekel said.
The
Essential Server family is in private beta and will be released to a public
beta by the end of the first half of 2008, he said. The products will be
released in the second half of 2008, but VanRoekel did not disclose specific
dates. Microsoft also declined to comment on product pricing.
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