Small Business Server 2003 R2 Ships

Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 R2, an incremental upgrade to Microsoft’s server bundle for small business, adds centralized software patch management capabilities, lowers the price of Premium Edition, and makes it less expensive for customers to augment their SBS 2003 R2 server with freestanding Exchange or SQL Server machines. However, SBS 2003 R2, which is available through OEM and retail channels as of Aug. 2006, is mainly of interest to new purchasers—existing customers can obtain many of the new R2 features by applying free updates to SBS components.

SBS provides basic networking, file and print sharing, document library, e-mail, fax, remote access, backup and restore, and other capabilities by combining several Microsoft server products with SBS-specific applications in a single integrated and relatively low-cost package. While most small businesses require assistance to set up and support the product, the specially developed tools for installing, configuring, and managing SBS make it easier for service providers to support and more practical for users to do many administrative tasks themselves.