You’ve heard of Windows Server and you’ve heard of Small Business Server. SBS has a hard coded limitation of 75 users so it’s only good for the small business. What about that huge number of smal-mid sized organsiation that wants a tightly integrated server solution that isn’t your normal Server deployment? What do they get?
Last year we first heard of Centro, a 3 server version of SBS. It is now called Windows Essential Business Server (WEBS). It comes in two packages and includes:
- It is built on Windows Server 2008 x64 (not this does not support x86; only x64)
- System Center Essentials
- It includes Exchange Server 2007
- Forefront Security for Exchange (anti malware)
- The next release of ISA
- SQL Server 2008 (only in the "Premium" pacakge of WEBS).
Like SBS, the idea is to tightly integrate the entire solution so that it is quick to deploy and easy to mange for lesser skilled engineers, i.e. those likely to be found in smaller organisations that would not otherwise have the experience to build an integrated solution from these technologies.
This will be of major interest to companies who are not only investing in their own IT but those who provide managed services, e.g. server hosting. Building a template for this solution should make it easy to rapidly deploy a customer’s network espeically if hosted in a virtualised or cloned environment.