Microsoft's Small Business Server plans
crn.com | at | by Mike
Microsoft is mulling a "lite" version of the forthcoming Small Business Server (SBS) 2003, priced at less than $1,000. For more than a year, Microsoft's next version of SBS, code-named Bobcat, has been the subject of heated internal debate about the product's components and pricing, said sources close to the company. The current plan is to get the price to less than the "magic" price point of $999 and include Windows Server 2003, the forthcoming Titanium version of Exchange, SharePoint Team Services and fax-sharing capabilities, sources said. Microsoft also is mulling two versions of SBS 2003, sources said.
Beta 2 of SBS 2003 shipped in December without SQL Server or Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) servers, sources said. Microsoft may drop SQL to reduce costs and cut ISA because of potential security breaches with Internet Information Services in the Windows 2003 Server, sources said.