microsoft watch - server - microsoft's fix for the middle child syndrome

microsoft watch - server - microsoft's fix for the middle child syndrome all blogs • eweek • baseline • cio insight • google watch • linux watch • web buyer's guide home | got a tip? | archive | subscribe | all blogs | network with it professionals home >> server >> microsoft's fix for the middle child syndrome november 7, 2007 4:27 pm microsoft's fix for the middle child syndrome joe wilcox medium businesses don't get a whole lot of love from microsoft, particularly for server software. windows essential business server is a good start to change. but will it be tough love or warm embrace? this morning, microsoft formerly announced the essential business server nomenclature for the product formerly code-named centro. microsoft revealed intentions to develop the software in september 2005 for midsize businesses. microsoft defines midsize as businesses with 25 to 250 client pcs. microsoft has long ignored the needs of medium businesses, treating them like a middle child. microsoft favored large businesses, the firstborn, and smaller businesses, the younglings, with best pricing and products, particularly volume-licensing options. "if you're too big for small business server and you don't qualify for select licensing, you're stuck in the middle," said russ madlener, server and tools director of product planning. businesses need at least 250 pcs to qualify for select licensing. essential business server is the first major step in giving the middle child its due. while microsoft also targets dynamics products for the same market segment, the new server software is different. microsoft designed the product to meet specific needs of midsize businesses. essential business server also is kind of a middle of the road product for the middle child. like small business server, the newer software is more an integration of several products. like enterprise server products, midsize businesses install the package on multiple servers. "i would not call this a turbocharged small business server," said steve rubin, president of workitsafe. it's much more. the multiple-server attribute is particularly good for channel partners looking to service midsize businesses. not surprisingly, microsoft benefits, too. "[channel partners] think they will have one consistent platform across their customers," madlener told me yesterday. "the [benefit] for them is that they have economies of scale for selling value-added solutions." what he means: centro becomes the base platform for which channel partners can sell crm (customer relationship management), accounting and other software plus value-added services. microsoft benefits from office 2007 upgrades, increased dynamics adoption and increased penetration of sharepoint and other server software among smaller businesses. the middle child problem isn't just about midmarket businesses, but the channel selling to them. click pic for larger image. source: microsoft michael cherry, directions on microsoft's lead analyst for desktop and mobile, skeptically looked at the software's midsize it management benefits. qualifying that he hadn't seen the software, cherry said, "i think even in the midsize this almost has to be a turnkey system." he wondered if three or even four servers would be too much burden for many midsize businesses. he judges capabilities based on one question: "do you have a dedicated it person?" he makes a good point. even businesses with several hundred employees might not have a dedicated it manager. one example: a business with 200 sales people, where sophisticated server software could support communications, crm and collaboration, but the number of pcs is more like a small business. "if you don't have a dedicated it person, then you want a turnkey solution," he said. "for many small or medium organizations, you think long and hard before you add a body." essential business server could require that one more body. that said, the channel could benefit by providing additional services to support midmarket business lacking the necessary expertise. it's no shock that microsoft emphasizes integration benefits as a means of making complicated server software easier to manage. "these it guys in midsize business are overworked and under resourced," madlener said. "we kept all of this in mind when building centro." maybe, but based on the information provided by microsoft, mid-size businesses will need to run windows server 2008 on three to four separate boxes. that's a much more complicated setup than, say, small business server 2003 r2, which runs on one server. windows essential business server isn't really one server but three (for standard edition) and four (for premium edition). there are separate servers for management, messaging and security, and database for the high-end product. all the servers run windows server 2008, upon which the essential product is based, with other software installed for the specific server task. cherry suggested that virtualization would have been a better approach for management. there would be hardware cost advantages, too. rubin disagrees. "what if that one server goes down?" he asked. rubin also said that the three- or four-server approach made loads of sense, as many mid-size business already have at least a couple servers. "you're going to have those servers in any case," he said. the difference: essential business server comes with a centralized management console and offers considerably more integration across server products than disparate server software sold to larger businesses. centralized management and tighter server integration have enterprise appeal, and some larger microsoft customers have expressed interest, madlener said. but that's for future consideration. "definitely in v1 we're all about the mid-size business," he said. microsoft plans to release windows essential business server beta 2 within 30 to 60 days, where "you'll see a lot of the integration code," madlener said. but mid-size businesses and channel partners will have to wait until second half next year for the software's release. while final name hasn't been revealed, nomenclature is a no-brainer. "most likely there will be [a year] attached to it," madlener said. "we will be closely aligned with windows server 2008." so, it's reasonable to expect final name to be windows essential business server 2008 or 2009—if the product is late year. by the way, the naming is better than usual for a microsoft server product. the connotations are quite good and clear from words "essential" and "business" put together. the software will be available in a single cal (client-access license), but microsoft hasn't disclosed pricing. this far out, there likely isn't a decision yet. businesses with fewer than 300 pcs—50 above what microsoft considers a mid-size business—would qualify to license essential business server. create, communicate, collaborate with it professionals at ziff davis enterprise it link. posted by joe wilcox on november 7, 2007 4:27 pmpermalink | comments (2) | del.icio.us | digg.com | trackback | post a comment view all of channel, operating systems, server trackback http://www.microsoft-watch.com/cgi-bin/mte/mt-tb.cgi/12006 comments (2) i-man : good read from portuno(yahoo/microsoft board) link continues at: http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/stocks_%28a_to_z%29/stocks_v/threadview?m=tm&bn=33693&tid=881&mid=881&tof=1&frt=2 ...fired november 2, 2007 with only explanation: "fired for violating company policies". odd. the one guy most central to any discovery efforts in vcsy v msft fired on the same day a ruling was to be given on the discovery phase of vcsy v msft. very odd. microsoft put out a news article about scott taking on co-cio role with ron markezich december 5, 2006. one day before vcsy returned to otcbb from sec delisting. patrick tinley, ceo of cdc/ross was fired the same day. scott had left ge and taken the microsoft position july 2005. vcsy was cleared by sec investigation begun december 1, 2004 - one day after vcsy was granted the 6826744 patent. very very odd. posted by i-man | november 7, 2007 6:07 pm andre da costa : i think you joe and michael are looking too deep in the wrong direction. the ability to spread across the components of essential business server across multiple servers is something most it bodies have been hoping for a long time now. its a sensible approach especially with the ability to have cheap server hardware custom or name brand setup with lots of memory. small business server while successful and value based for many businesses, lots of other businesses wanted to really separate those mission critical applications instead of having them on one server. come on now, having multiple hardware setups is even typical for most homes these days. for someone who considers themselves an it professional, managing 4 little servers shouldn't be a nightmare, but more of a blessing and chance to streamline and stabilize an it infrastructure essential business server is aimed at. i do agree with virtualization point, but with microsoft's virtualization (hypervisor) solution still out in development and won't be expected 180 days until after windows server 2008, i think it was more of our hands or tied decision. hopefully by essential business server r2, such a solution will be an option for consolidating hardware. still, i don't see how its impossible for someone to already use it through current virtual machine solutions since i assume a lot of beta testers of the product are testing it that way already. windows server 2008 r2 is expected by 2009 btw. posted by andre da costa | november 7, 2007 6:25 pm post a comment name: email address: url:   check to remember personal info comments: (you may use html tags for style)   subscribe: rss 2.0 related blogs: eweek cio insight google watch microsoft bloggers business applications channel corporate desktop & mobile developer games & consumer messaging & collaboration operating systems podcasts security server storage vista web services & browser microsoft watch     contact us | advertise | site map ziff davis enterprise home | contact us | advertise | link to us | reprints | magazine subscriptions | newsletters rss feeds | white papers | roi calculators | tech jobs | tech podcasts | tech video | baseline | careers | channel insider | cio insight | desktoplinux | deviceforge | devsource | eseminars | eweek | linuxdevices | linux watch | microsoft watch | mid-market | networking | pdf zone | publish | eweek security | strategic partner | web buyer's guide | windows for devices developer shed | dev shed | asp free | dev articles | dev hardware | seo chat | tutorialized | scripts | code walkers | web hosters | dev mechanic | dev archives | it marketplace | igrep use of this site is governed by our terms of use and privacy policy copyright ©1996-2007 ziff davis enterprise inc. all rights reserved. microsoft watch is a trademark of ziff davis enterprise, inc. reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of ziff davis enterprise inc. is prohibited.

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