[Today’s post comes to us courtesy of Kevin Kean from the SBS Product Team]
Not a week goes by when we don’t get emails asking about the next version of Windows Small Business Server (SBS). When’s it coming? What will it include? What’s the partner opportunity?
I am very pleased to say that today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, we disclosed that we will issue not one, but TWO, public preview releases for the next version of SBS by the end of our summer in the Pacific Northwest – an update to the standard edition plus a new server that will be our first to deliver both traditional and cloud computing capabilities for small businesses.
If you’re interested in downloading and testing the previews, you can visit www.microsoft.com/sbs and sign-up for the program. You will be notified when the actual bits are available for download.
The offerings we will have for you to try out will be:
In addition, we are announcing the forthcoming release of a Windows Server Solution Software Development Kit (SDK), which will enable developers to build add-ins and write drive integration of new and existing on-line services with SBS Aurora. Developers interested in downloading the SDK should go to http://connect.microsoft.com/sbs.
I know that we are going to create a lot of industry buzz with these offerings, in large part because we’re updating the standard edition with SBS 7 and delivering an easy to use and affordable way through SBS Aurora for small businesses to enjoy important server functionalities like backup of client and server, file and print sharing, run critical applications on-site while at the same time taking advantage of the emerging number of online applications and services on a pay-as-you-go basis to extend the functionality of your server.
We’re also getting a lot of partner interest, particularly around SBS Aurora. In fact, Symantec, Level Platforms and Disk Keeper are all making statements this week around plans to integrate products with SBS Aurora. HP is not only showing SBS Aurora in their booth at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, but has a sneak peek at http://www.facebook.com/CoffeeCoaching. And you’re sure to hear more as we get closer to releasing the preview.
See what all of the buzz is about. Sign up for the previews today!
Will we see archive mailboxes in SBS 7?
And also:
"I know that we are going to create a lot of industry buzz with these offerings, in large part because we’re updating the standard edition with SBS 7 and delivering an easy to use and affordable way through SBS Aurora for small businesses to enjoy important server functionalities like backup of client and server, file and print sharing, run critical applications on-site while at the same time taking advantage of the emerging number of online applications and services on a pay-as-you-go basis to extend the functionality of your server."
Who wrote that?
Will the new SBS allow in-place upgrade from SBS2008?
I very much like the sound of SBS Aurora - something some of our smaller customers would be better suited to.
However, Aurora?? How about "Really Small Business Server"?
@DVM it wont be possible as it is not possible to in-place upgrade Exchange 2007 to Exchange 2010, a migation will have to be performed to the new SBS
Will we be able to add remote apps more easilly to the remote web workplace? I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on this new version of SBS!
Is Direct Access feature included to SBS 7?
Project 'Aurora' or Micro Buiness Server will have some great features for startups and be even more appealing AND AFFORDABLE for those companies that dont have a server, who are struggling with sporadic data all over the place on shared ad hoc network shares, who share logins and email accounts, and have no time to manage their IT. This is going to bring those companies up-to-date (and you can even consider a Windows refresh to Windows 7 :D) and they can begin to enjoy IT rather that fight with it (its amazing what 10 years of innovation can provide).
2 points:
1) not allowing in-place upgrades is a bad move. Are you sure that with a little effort in-place updating of exchange would not be possible? Maybe through a mechanism like backup-restore?
2) will you finally fix all the problems that the shared fax service is having? It worked perfectly under SBS 2003. Now it is a real nightmare (different drivers for XP and Vista/7 clients, a lot of lost faxes, ...). If you are not aware, just do a simple search on the internet and you will find out.
What about Virtualization and RDS, is this now possible on SBS7?
These are basic features of W2K8R2 and also necessary for SBS.