We Do Windows (Home Server)

Microsoft's partners are champing at the bit to get their hands on Windows Home Server. Some feel it's going to make its biggest initial splash with tech-savvy users running home businesses, while others see it as a catalyst for the home automation market.

Scheduled to launch this fall, Windows Home Server connects multiple PCs in the same household and stores, manages, backs up and protects digital audio, video and photos.

In addition to centralized storage and backup, Windows Home Server also lets users access their digital content remotely and is built on the secure platform of Windows Server 2003, said Joel Sider, senior product manager in the Windows Home Server group at Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.

Although Windows Home Server is designed to be easy to install and use, the software fits well into the toolbox of home integrators, who can wrap it into a smart home solution along with home automation and networking technologies, Sider noted.

In addition to backup and remote access, Windows Home Server also works well in environments with high-end home automation and entertainment systems, said Mark Crall, president of Charlotte Tech Care Team, a Microsoft partner in Charlotte, N.C.

"It's the first time you've ever been able to have the words 'server' and 'home entertainment' combined in a single product. It's really a platform for the home," Crall said.

But the home market has proven difficult for Microsoft to crack, due in large part to the inability of Windows XP Media Center Edition to generate enough interest with the channel, said Todd Swank, vice president of marketing at Nor-Tech, Burnsville, Minn.

"There has always been this promise of the digital home, but the challenges are that it's a single sale and there isn't a lot of ongoing support. Partners tend to like multiple PC sales and services opportunities, and so far, the home market hasn't quite been there," Swank said.

Home automation has been a growing market for years, but from a pure networking and infrastructure point of view, Windows XP Media Center Edition didn't operate well with existing home products, said Amy Luby, CEO of Mobitech, an Omaha, Neb.-based solution provider.

"The home automation market has been looking for stable, standardized products to build that infrastructure upon, but until now the market has been mainly proprietary products that haven't been very scalable," Luby said.

"Media Center didn't play well with anything else that was out there, and home automation vendors had to build their own tools to work with it," Luby said.

However, given that home users' storage requirements have shot up dramatically in recent years, the market has reached the point where end customers are ready to buy a server to manage their home PCs, according to Nor-Tech's Swank.

"I think Windows Home Server could be the product that generates the interest that Media Center was unable to do," Swank said. "Given the amount of people who have multiple PCs in the home, it looks like a significant opportunity."

The home market has matured to the point where centralized storage is a necessity, and Windows Home Server stands to benefit from the upswing in services going into the home, Luby said.

To capitalize on the home automation opportunities, Microsoft has been working with companies in that space, including Embedded Automation and Lagotek. OEM products based on Windows Home Server will be led by Hewlett-Packard's Media Smart Server, which is scheduled for release later this year, followed by other offerings from vendors Fujitsu-Siemens, Gateway, Iomega, LaCie and Medion.

"You'll see a number of price points, design aesthetics and capabilities, and Microsoft will also be delivering Windows Home Server through the system builder channel," Microsoft's Sider said.

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