Hoping to woo small businesses to its .Net platform, Microsoft Corp. is launching its Small Business Server 2000 package at an aggressive price of US$1499 for a five-user license.

The product, being unveiled Wednesday, provides all the tools small-business workers need to share files and data, connect to the Internet, manage e-mail and faxes, and even log in remotely. It bundles Windows 2000 Server (plus Service Pack 1), Exchange 2000 Server (standard editions), copies of Outlook 2000 for each user, SQL Server 2000, Internet Security and Acceleration Server (IAS), Shared Modem Service, and Shared Fax Service.

There's even a copy of Front Page 2000 for Web design, and a new Health Monitor feature that produces customizable reports and alerts on the state of the system. Since Windows 2000 Server alone costs $999 for a five-user license, and several of the additional components run about $500, that's a pretty good deal.

And you're not getting crippled or limited versions of these products. They're the same versions sold to enterprises. To protect against those enterprises trying to save money by buying the small-business product, Microsoft limits the number of users on the network to 50 and builds in safeguards against use as part of a larger corporate network. (You can add additional users in a $299 five-pack license, or a 20-pack license for $999.)

Upgrades everywhere

Microsoft says every major component of the package has been upgraded since the previous version. A major overhaul in the underlying architecture of the package has eliminated a bothersome characteristic of the last version: Changes to one component are now reflected in all others. Installation is easier as well, Microsoft says.

The product is also designed with an eye to supporting the outside consultants and resellers who typically tend to a small business's technical support needs. An outside consultant can use Windows Terminal Services to take control of a client's system and troubleshoot. The Health Monitor can be configured to send alerts in case of catastrophes.

Microsoft says its hardware partners for Small Business Server 2000 include industry giants Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp., Gateway Inc., and Hewlett-Packard Co. Minimum system requirements are a Pentium II CPU, 128MB of memory, and a 4GB hard disk. Microsoft recommends 256MB of memory.

The new release should liven the battle for the small-business market, where Microsoft still faces competitors-such as Novell and Linux-that it doesn't have to battle in the desktop arena. Even at its new price, Small Business Server 2000 is more expensive than its counterparts.

» posted by ITworld staff

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