Over in Germany, Microsoft announced early today a new edition of the Aurora/Vail family called Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, formerly codenamed “Breckenridge”.
Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is positioned squarely between Aurora and Vail and will include the following feature set:
More details to follow as we learn more about this member of the SBS/WHS family.
Announcing Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials
[Today’s post comes to us courtesy of Michael Leworthy from Windows Server Marketing]
Building on the Windows Small Business Server 2011 announcements and adding to that exciting momentum – today on the Storage Server blog, Microsoft announced a new edition targeted at small business, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials. Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is part of the Windows Storage Server family of network attached storage appliances. It shares common features and usability with both Windows Home Server code name “Vail” and Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and is optimized for:
- Server and PC backup, including file, folder and image based restore
- Centralized storage for file data and easier sharing
- Console driven administration for easier management
- Access to your data from virtually anywhere through Remote Web Access
- Network health monitoring for both Windows and Mac PC’s
- Active Directory Domain join
With support for up to 25 users, Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is an appliance form-factor with preconfigured hardware and software – vastly simplifying the deployment and management tasks normally associated with a new file server or additional servers for storage. Plus, Active Directory join capability enables Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials to easily integrate into existing infrastructure and networks.
Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials is targeted at very small businesses such as home offices which are looking for an affordable entry server without line of business support. Further to this, it can also be used as an additional storage server for organizations with existing servers. We likewise anticipate Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials to be a viable solution to assist many current SBS 2008 and new SBS 2011 Standard customers with automated PC backup and further storage options. Upon release it will be available through many OEM vendors who will offer multiple form factors, and is expected in H1 2011.
To learn more about Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials, visit the Official Storage Server Blog.
