Microsoft Unveils Upcoming Small Business Server, Storage Server Updates

Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft's Windows Server Division, told CRN Wednesday that the 2005 updates for SBS and Storage Server in 2005 will be based on the same code as the Windows Server R2 update, also due out next year.

The integration of all the security and digital rights management services (RMS) features in Windows Server R2, along with improved network connectivity features, will ease installation for solution providers and small businesses, Muglia said. Customers have reported network connectivity problems, and Microsoft will make it easier, for instance, to set up DNS servers, he said.

In the interim, Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft plans to release an SBS service pack--Small Business Server SP1--later this year that will incorporate the Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and ISA 2004 in the Premium Edition. The current Premium Edition includes the ISA 2000 firewall and caching solution.

Storm, the next version of the Windows Storage Server, will offer new SAN management features and give customers the file replication and compression benefits of Windows Server R2, Muglia added. Though the current Windows Storage Server supports SANs, it lacks the SAN management facilities that will appear in Storm, he said.

With the cost of SANs declining, Storm--as well as low-cost Serial ATA boards from third-party vendors--stands to give solution providers new opportunities, according to Muglia. "It's still too early yet," he said. "But it opens up the channel for VARs and [systems integrators]." For example, Windows XP SP2, due out this summer, is slated to support iSCSI, NX and Serial ATA technology.

Muglia also confirmed that Microsoft plans to release Virtual Server 2005 in the July time frame. It will support 32-bit applications only, at least initially, he said.

Microsoft, too, plans a service pack for Virtual Server 2005 later this year or in early 2005 that will provide 64-bit host support, according to Muglia. That means users can run the software on 64-bit host systems. Full support for 64-bit virtual images is planned, but a release timetable hasn't been set, he said.