Turkeys, Laughs and SBS 2003

Turkeys, Laughs and SBS 2003. My twin sisters visited over the Thanksgiving holiday. One sister said her company, a provider of computer educational services, planned to adopt Microsoft’s Small Business Server 2003. I chuckled, because I had just finished a report on the product. She laughed when I told her she’d have to pay for the report like everyone else. I was serious; no laughing matter.

Last week, Jupiter Research published that report, “Small Business Server 2003: Will Microsoft Win Over SMBs?” My sister’s company is exactly the kind of business SBS 2003 is most appropriate for: 20 employees and a mostly Microsoft software shop. The report, which relies in part on a survey that tallies what software small- and medium-businesses run today, explores where SBS 2003 is and is not appropriate. As the report concludes, Microsoft has done an excellent job with the horizontal integration of server products, which include Exchange Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003. But characteristics of the SMB market coupled with adjacent Microsoft software strategy make the software appropriate for some small companies but not others.

By the way, the integration makes setup so easy, many larger businesses may want to consider using SBS 2003 as a way of jumpstarting larger, more-complex installations. While the server software supports only 75 users and cannot connect to other domains, larger businesses could still use the integrated installation to set up Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server 2003, SQL Server 2003 and other included SBS components. Because Microsoft gives full purchase credit against the standalone server products, such as Exchange, the larger business could purchase new licenses without penalty or loss of investment. The installation shortcut, while convoluted from a licensing perspective, could greatly reduce setup of the same individual components contained in SBS 2003.  [Microsoft Monitor]

Leave a comment