Availability of SBS 2003 R2

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Lots of questions around the availability of Small Business Server 2003 R2 now that SBS 2008 has been released. So to clarify:

Volume licensing-

  • SBS 2003 R2 media will be available until the version following 2008 is released, however SBS 2003 R2 license SKUs are now being removed from the pricelist.  Customers have downgrade rights in VL, so there’s no need to keep n-1 license SKUs on the pricelist.

Full boxed product-

  • SBS 2003 R2 SKUs will discontinue 60 days after software has RTM’d, thus unless the distributors and retailers have stocked up, I expect to start seeing  this product being replaced with SBS 2008 on the shelves by the end of October.

System Builder / OEM-

  • SBS 2003 R2 SKUs will be available for the manufacturers to offer, however it is at their discretion as to whether they do so.

Hope this helps - please let me know if you have any questions,

Robbie