Microsoft prepares resellers for SBS 2000

Microsoft is gearing up its resellers for the launch of Small Business Server (SBS) 2000, which looks likely to ship early next year. A pure channel product, SBS 2000 went into final beta recently.

Microsoft is gearing up its resellers for the launch of Small Business Server (SBS) 2000, which looks likely to ship early next year. A pure channel product, SBS 2000 went into final beta recently.

It has been issued as part of a channel readiness kit for resellers eager to gain lucrative margins - not only from the product, but also in configuration, hosting and related services. The kit contains product overviews, presentations and videos.

Designed for between 10 and 50 users, Microsoft claims that the upgrade will cost about the same price as SBS 4.5, according to Tim Kimber, product marketing manager at Microsoft. Although final pricing is not yet available, SBS 4.5 ships for between $1200 and $1500.

The product was originally announced at the Fusion 2000 US trade show by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive. It is aimed at the embryonic application service provider market as well as at resellers selling to the small business server market.

The latter is growing at a rate of 20 per cent annually, officials said. However, hosted versions in the UK will not ship until Microsoft launches its bCentral portal in Europe, according to industry insiders.

SBS 2000 incorporates Windows 2000, Exchange 2000, SQL Server 2000, Internet Security and Acceleration Server (formerly Proxy Server) and Fax Services.

For resellers and web integrators, the server suite offers new features such as graduated deployment, pro-active monitoring, remote management through terminal services and support for Microsoft Management Console 1.2.

The tools will enable providers to build maintenance agreements, virtual private networks, application integration and hosting services for customers, according to the company.