Microsoft's Midmarket Server Gets a Name, Release Schedule

nobody seems to understand this but me, so i'll explain it a little clearer. Microsoft is targeting the medium-sized market segment here the same way they targetted the small business. that is to say, they are taking pre-existing operating system components (Windows Server, Exchange, etc) while reducing their capabilities so that they fit that market and bundling them together at a reduced cost. this is EXACTLY what they did with Windows Small Business Server, which includes more functionality than Windows Server Standard at a lower cost, and yet includes it with functionality that fits that market, without requiring extra investments in functionality that doesn't. i think this is a great idea - approaching it as a complete solution that fits a goal or particular audience. SBS won several awards for being the best bundled server product, and for ease of use.

if you want to know how they got this idea, just look at the Office suites and compare the prices to the standalone applications....who would actually buy Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, etc, separately anyway?

with the new Windows Server "suites", it'll be a much easier deployment scenario with the central management capabilities in each package too.

questions that come to mind: is there any way to integrate Forefront Client Security into one of the existing servers in that set of 3 (or 4)? what is the client security strategy for small-business customers on SBS? currently, Forefront Client Security management requires a separate server that isn't a domain controller, and has very high system requirements and requires a large investment in SQL Server for monitoring and reporting, meaning it doesn't serve the smalll business market particularly well. you can run FCS without central management though, and it is VERY cheap to do so (approx. $13/client/yr), but there should still be a central management option for small biz IT's.

XP

nobody seems to understand this but me, so i'll explain it a little clearer. Microsoft is targeting the medium-sized market segment here the same way they targetted the small business. that is to say, they are taking pre-existing operating system components (Windows Server, Exchange, etc) while reducing their capabilities so that they fit that market and bundling them together at a reduced cost. this is EXACTLY what they did with Windows Small Business Server, which includes more functionality than Windows Server Standard at a lower cost, and yet includes it with functionality that fits that market, without requiring extra investments in functionality that doesn't. i think this is a great idea - approaching it as a complete solution that fits a goal or particular audience. SBS won several awards for being the best bundled server product, and for ease of use.

if you want to know how they got this idea, just look at the Office suites and compare the prices to the standalone applications....who would actually buy Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, etc, separately anyway?

with the new Windows Server "suites", it'll be a much easier deployment scenario with the central management capabilities in each package too.

questions that come to mind: is there any way to integrate Forefront Client Security into one of the existing servers in that set of 3 (or 4)? what is the client security strategy for small-business customers on SBS? currently, Forefront Client Security management requires a separate server that isn't a domain controller, and has very high system requirements and requires a large investment in SQL Server for monitoring and reporting, meaning it doesn't serve the smalll business market particularly well. you can run FCS without central management though, and it is VERY cheap to do so (approx. $13/client/yr), but there should still be a central management option for small biz IT's.

XP

"The product will be sold as Windows Essential Business Server (WEBS) when it hits the market in the second half of 2008."

Microsoft seriously needs to rethink its naming "strategy". I'm surprised they didn't tack a "2008 Midmarket Edition" at the end of it. ;-)

It is a bad practice to create new products that are slightly different from each other. Yes, there is a market fo such product but this market is serviced by the normal versions of the products (Windows Server, Exchange Server, ISA Server, etc.). If you think that this market is underserved then just change your licensing system for it. Why do you create yet another package? Too much products, too much confusion and frustration.