Small Business Server 2008 Availability and Pricing Announced
Today, Microsoft formally announced availability of Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Server 2008, their server offerings for small- and medium-sized businesses, respectively.
Pricing
Although at face value, the price of Small Business Server seems to have increased, in fact in most situations it is the same price or cheaper than its predecessor. US pricing for FPP (Full Package Product) is available today and will be:
| | Standard Server | Standard CAL | Premium Server | Premium CAL |
| FPP Price | $1,089 | $77 | $1,899 | $189 |
| | | | | |
| Standalone Costs | $2,033 | $206 | $4,031 | $258 |
| Effective saving | 46% | 27% | 53% | 27% |
Licensing and Client Access Licenses (CALs)
The 2008 edition introduces some significant changes in the pricing, licensing and availability of Client Access Licenses - or CALs. Users disliked having to buy CALs in 5-packs, in SBS 2008 CALs will be available individually. The second major change is the introduction of two types of CAL - Standard CAL and Premium CAL. The new Premium CAL covers users who need to access the premium technologies, such as SQL Server Standard Edition. On a Standard Server, all the CALs will be Standard CALs, but a Premium Server has a new blended CAL model. Both Standard and Premium CALs can be used simultaneously, so that the customer need purchase premium CALs only for the users who need access to Premium features. Users who don't need the premium server applications can use the cheaper Standard CAL.
What's New in SBS 2008
Small Business Server 2008 has some important changes that Small Business Partners will need to be aware of. Items marked [Premium] apply only the the Premium server edition.
Based on Windows Server 2008 64-bit edition (the will be no 32-bit edition) - Requires a 64-bit processor and a minimum of 4Gb of RAM
- There will be a migration path but no upgrade install.
- Includes Exchange Server 2007.
- Includes Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0
- [Premium] Includes SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition (compared to Workgroup Edition supplied previously)
- [Premium] Includes a second Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition license so that SQL Server and Line-Of-Business Applications can be installed on a separate device, breaking the 'everything on one box' paradigm that characterised SBS 2003.
- A new, image-based backup application that is designed to backup to disk (external USB drive, for example). SBS 2008 no longer supports tape backup out of the box. Tape backup can be added with a third party application.
- Internet Security & Acceleration Server (ISA Server) has been removed from the product. The dual-NIC configuration is no longer supported, i.e. the Small Business Server will no longer be able to act as the Internet gateway. A separate firewall appliance must be used and many commercial routers already provide this service.