With a murky release date from Microsoft of the second-half of 2008, Windows Small Business Server 2008 will bring many new upgrades from the five year old Small Business Server 2003.
To start with, the foundation of SBS 2008 is the latest version of Microsoft’s flagship network operating system, Windows Server 2008. One of the distinctive differences between Server 2008 that will be included in SBS 2003 and the version in SBS 2003, its predecessor, is that it will now be the 64-bit version rather than the venerable 32-bit system. Naturally, there are many new features in Windows Server 2008 with a great focus on improved security. The code base for Windows Server 2008 is actually that of Windows Vista. While that may turn some users off who have experienced frustrations with the Vista desktop operating system, the improved security is a true advantage for the server system.
Another major change from SBS 2003 is Exchange 2007. Since all production versions of Exchange 2007 are 64-bit, that helps to explain the choice of the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 being chosen for SBS 2008. Exchange 2007 offers an interesting array of new features including a substantially improved Outlook Web Access along with unified messaging and improved anti-spam and anti-virus capabilities. Finally, Microsoft removed the storage ceiling found in previous versions of Exchange Server.
As in the previous editions of SBS, there are two versions available: Standard and Premium. As was the case in the past, the Standard version doesn’t include a copy of SQL Server as is the case in the Premium version. What is new in the SBS 2008 approach is that a second server can be used to run the SQL Server. Since only one server was ever allowed in the SBS packages of the past, this is a major step forward for those smaller organizations which have less than 75 users, but took advantage of SQL Server 2008 databases.
For firms looking to exceed the 75 user barrier, Microsoft is offering a new option called Essential Business Server which is similar in theory to Small Business Server except that the license limit is set at 300 users.
There’s much more to the new version of Small Business Server 2008 and it will be covered in much more detail as the release date is announced as well as upon approach of that release date. If questions arise for your organization, call a Responsive consultant at 888-RNS-IS-IT.
