Essential Server Solutions at SMB Summit

Greetings from Dallas at the SMB Summit, where 400+ channel partners are gearing up for Windows Essential Server Solutions.  Small Business Server 2008 is the topic du jour, tomorrow is all about Essential Business Server 2008 for midsized companies.  The Microsoft team is here in force, providing technical sessions, hands on labs (powered by HP hardware), and generally absorbing all the feedback they can about how to help partners meet the needs of small and midmarket businesses.

Many solution providers are truly excited about the new features of SBS – lots of whistles and shouts in the opening keynote today, particularly around the addition of SQL Server Standard Edition to SBS Premium Edition.  During the opening session, partner John Endter of E Squared C shared his experience deploying SBS 08 beta for a golf course client. He called the new product “rock solid” and praised the improved sytem health monitoring (server and client.)

Michael Cocanower of itSynergy is successfully running EBS 08 beta for clients, and told us that many partners see the new product as a way to extend or strengthen their services in the midmarket.

Check out the SBS blog and EBS blog for more posts from the Summit by the program management team.

Joel Sider