Hands On: HP MediaSmart Server EX487 (Part 1)

The hardware may be an evolution, but  HP creates a software revolution to guide the way to the next generation of Windows Home Servers.

Introduction

2008 will be remembered as the year that Windows Home Server’s brave vision almost came unstuck. Initial excitement throughout the industry at launch was dampened by a “softly, softly” marketing approach by Microsoft and its partners, and yes, there was that little glitch in the software that needed to be worked out.

As a result, whilst excitement still exists within the enthusiast community around the platform, most consumers in the market will still be asking “Mommy, What’s a Home Server?” and if Mommy’s checks with her geek colleagues at work, she may well bring back a few scary bedtime stories concerning data loss.

Whilst those issues are now resolved and confined to the history books, Microsoft and their partners have had their work cut of in the back end of the year to restore faith in the platform within the enthusiast community, and more importantly, to evangelise Windows Home Server to a seemingly cynical crowd of hardware manufacturers and software developers who still appear to be standing on the sidelines looking a little unimpressed.

Whether it’s the cost of the software, the lack of a sizable addressable market or another reason entirely, certainly Microsoft are going to be playing catch-up in their evangelism efforts for some time to come.

But, cast your mind back to the early days of Windows Media Center and you’ll remember that the situation was broadly the same. You had very specific hardware requirements, consumers who needed a lot of education regarding the use of their PCs as media hubs, and very few major OEMs supporting the platform.

One key difference – Media Center is an application, with a broad, but specific set of features. Over the past five years, we’ve seen improvements (slowly) in the application, new standards and new hardware supported and a UI evolution.

When it comes to Windows Home Server, however, we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what it can (and indeed, should) do beyond its backup and restore capabilities. Unlike Media Center, WHS is a true platform and the flexibility that’s inherent in such a platform means that a home server can do or be pretty much anything you want it to.

As a result, as we look towards future versions of the platform, I think we’ll remember 2009 as the year that Windows Home Server began the transition from an excellent, if relatively worthy (read: slightly dull) file server, backup and remote access system to a sexier, more powerful home media hub – easier and more exciting to market both to the industry and end-users.

That transition starts today with the announcement of two new HP MediaSmart Server models – the EX485 & EX487 (codenamed “Encore”). A home server design that will be familiar now to many but with new, powerful media sharing, streaming and management software built on top of the core OS that opens up the path to a new generation of home servers.

Windows Home Server Evolves

I’ve had the opportunity to focus over the past two years almost exclusively on Windows Home Server through our coverage at WGS, and have been able to discuss the platform with a wide range of executives within Microsoft, their hardware partners and software developers large and small. In that time, I’ve perceived a couple of pretty major shifts in thinking as the ecosystem gets to grips with Windows Home Server and its potential.

Let’s remember, back at launch in 2007 Windows Home Server was positioned as a closed, headless consumer electronics device, with a very basic hardware requirement and a clear role to protect and serve the data spread across multiple PCs in your home. The original HP MediaSmart Server models (the 500Gb EX470 and 1 Tb EX475) delivered that vision extremely well – easy to set up, performed its backup and restore every night, compete pain to open and upgrade.

Since WHS’ launch at CES 2007, what’s changed?

Windows Home Server increasingly positioned as an extensible platform

Whilst Microsoft had the foresight to build extensibility into Windows Home Server (as it did in Media Center) through a basic SDK, no-one could have predicted the explosion we’ve seen in community add-in development. To the point now where Windows Home Server is discussed more as a platform than an appliance and the 70 or so add-ins now available for the platform are one of the major marketing features of the platform.

Increasing focus on media consumption and sharing, not just backup.

Those digital memories are important, and we definitely want our home servers to protect them. But it’s fair to say that the home server owner’s desire to stream and share their media with devices around the home, and indeed across the internet was underestimated. Cue HP and Fujitsu-Siemens bundling DLNA compliant media servers to upgrade media streaming capabilities and…. well, more of that a little later.

Hardware requirements increasing

Yes, we all know that Windows Home Server can run on a Pentium 3 with 512Mb of memory. But the growth of Windows Home Server as a platform has led to more add-ins being installed on to home servers around the world. More add-ins equals more resources required, which means that all but the most basic home servers in the future will be running with beefier hardware.

With no news coming out of Redmond any time soon as to the next release and feature set of Windows Home Server (though there’s quite a few hints as to what the future may hold if you look in the right places) HP have announced the next generation of the HP MediaSmart Server, code-named “Encore” which reveals their view of where the home server category will evolve in the next 12-18 months. Let’s take a look at what’s in store.

Part 2 – The Hardware >>

Read the rest of our review:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Hardware
Part 3: Software 
Part 4: Software cont.
Part 5: Verdict