Microsoft preps slimmed-down Content Management Server

Microsoft Tuesday said it is preparing a Standard Edition of its Content Management Server 2002 product in a move to generate more sales to small and midsized businesses.

Content Management Server is a content management system for Web sites. It is part of Microsoft's "E-Business Server" family, but unlike the other products in that line, BizTalk Server and Commerce Server, Content Management Server has never been available as a Standard Edition, only in the more expensive Enterprise Edition. That will change before year-end.

"Content Management Server is available today, but we are going to provide another offering that is more appealing to the small and midsized business space," said Trina Seinfeld, a product manager with Microsoft.

The Standard Edition of Content Management Server will have all the functionality of the Enterprise Edition, but is restricted to 15 users who can manage a single Web site and runs on a single-processor server only, Seinfeld said. The software will run on Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server.

Content Management Server Standard Edition is due out by year-end. Pricing has yet to be determined, but will be in line with the Standard Edition versions of the other E-Business Server products, which are priced at $6,999, Seinfeld said. The Enterprise Version of Content Management Server costs $42,000 per processor, she said.

Microsoft acquired the Content Management Server product when it bought NCompass Labs in April 2001. The first Microsoft version of the product, Content Management Server 2001, was released in August 2001. That initial product was succeeded by Content Management Server 2002 in October last year. Competing products are sold by Vignette, Interwoven and others.

Microsoft is in the process of unifying all of its E-Business Server products as part of a project, called Jupiter. In June, the vendor marked the completion of Jupiter's first phase with the first beta of BizTalk Server 2004.

The release of Content Management Server Standard Edition is not part of Jupiter, Seinfeld said. The second part of Jupiter, which will include commerce, content and some portal features and functionality, is slated for late 2004 or 2005, Microsoft has said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.