Microsoft last week put together a bundle of servers designed to help midsize companies replace aging software with a more secure and manageable infrastructure.
The company is bundling Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition, Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Workgroup Edition and three copies of Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition into a single product. The offering signals Microsoft’s intent to tailor its software for midsize companies, a segment of the corporate market that rival IBM is attacking but Microsoft has yet to serve specifically.
The new bundle is aimed at companies with more than 50 users that are growing, have small IT staffs, need to support branch offices and typically have aging systems such as Windows NT and Exchange 5.5 that Microsoft no longer supports. The bundle also is designed to run across three servers to create a core infrastructure with room to expand.
Microsoft currently serves smaller companies with its popular Small Business Server, which includes Windows Server 2003, Exchange Server, SQL Server, and Internet Security and Acceleration Server. But this package is limited to 50 users, runs on a single piece of hardware and is not designed to support branch offices.
“You’re getting the ability to expand your systems beyond preset storage limits and license limits,” says Tim McKellips, manager of education and information worker solutions for Inacom, a systems integrator in Madison, Wis. “You get the flexibility so you can partner without being limited to a set number of connections. Eventually you get the robustness of distributed computing.”
In addition to the software, Microsoft has created a combination client access license (CAL) that covers both Windows and Exchange. Users can buy up to 250 of those combination licenses. The bundle will ship with 50 CALs for Windows and Exchange.
Microsoft also has designed a specific TechNet Web site for midsize companies that offers technical advice and guidance. Also included is a set of tools, including the Microsoft Security Assessment Tool, for assessing security vulnerabilities on the network; the Microsoft TCO Assessment Tool, which offers models for IT spending based on specific corporate requirements; the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, which determines if patches are up to date; and the Microsoft Software Inventory Analyzer, which collects an inventory of Microsoft software installed on desktops and the network.
“This [new bundle] is a signal that they are going after the mid-market,” says Mika Krammer, an analyst with Gartner. “You see encroachment from Linux here, and IBM is dumping a ton of money into developing products and partnerships to do a Microsoft takeout on the upper end of the mid-market, and Microsoft has to respond.”
Krammer says this bundle of infrastructure software is just the start of more to come.
The bundle is shipping now, and Microsoft is offering for the next 12 months a 20% discount that puts the price at $6,400 for users on Open license contracts.
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