Microsoft Server Solutions
When it comes to business computing, Microsoft Server Solutions are the hands down leaders in software to run your business systems. Over the years we have worked with Novell and Linux, but for ease of use, supportability, and the ability to work with common applications, Microsoft is the way to go.
Windows 2008 R2 Server:
Most organisations have standardised their servers on Microsoft Windows Server, and for many this will be Windows 2003. It works well, is stable and reliable and every application works on 2003.
But this operating system is also now 7 years old, and that's a long time in the technology world, and with replacement products Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 having been released, all the development and focus is on the new products. Microsoft have End of Life'd Windows 2003 Server for support in July 2010 so it is definitely time to look at Server 2008. These have received wide support and acceptance with their greater robustness and extended features, and in our experience they perform even better than their predecessors.
Some of the key reasons organisations are upgrading include:
- Powerful Hardware and Scaling Features
- Reduced Power Consumption
- Easier and more Efficient Server Management
- Managing Data not just Managing Storage
- Ubiquitous Remote Access
- Improved Branch Office Performance and Management
- Simplified Management for SMBs - The Strongest Web and Application Server To Date
- Improve Terminal Services Functionality
ICT Worldwide are a Microsoft Partner, with a history of working with Windows Server from its earliest days, and we have deployed Windows Server 2008 across large numbers of customers, in both physical and virtual environments. This experience means that we are well versed in the technology and are entirely comfortable with recommending it to any organisation seeking performance improvements in their network.
Microsoft Exchange is the clear leader in email servers and the new release, Exchange 2010 is a great addition to the portfolio. It provides a powerful way to manage all of your email and calendaring, and is robust enough to scale to the largest environment.
For some organisations upgrading to the latest Microsoft product is considered risky. But staying on old technology has its limitations. Should you look at implementing Exchange 2007 rather than 2010? We don't think so, as all of the improvements that 2007 brought have been improved even further in Exchange 2010 has confirmed that it improves on this even further.
Some of the key reasons organisations are upgrading include:
- New integrated archiving capabilities
- New high availability capabilities
- Enhancements to simplify administration
- Comprehensive information protection capabilities
The management tools in Exchange Server 2010 provide new self-service capabilities to users so they can have more control over their messaging without having to turn to the helpdesk for answer to common problems or quick fixes. Compliance specialists can perform multi-mailbox searches and export the results to PST files for legal discovery. Users can find out for themselves whether a message they sent to a business partner was received successfully or blocked by a spam filter.
Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) has long been popular with smaller organisations as it combined the core Microsoft server products, Windows Server and Exchange Server into one single server package many years before virtualisation enabled running multiple servers on the same hardware. Over the years it has improved and expanded, so that now in the current SBS 2008 release, the Premium version, which includes Microsoft SQL Server Database, requires a second server to run on.
SBS is limited to 75 users and its licensing is somewhat different to normal Windows Server licensing, but as long as you're safely under the 75 user limit then SBS can be a good option to consider.
Hyper-V is Microsoft's entry into the server virtualisation space where they are seeking to compete with VMware. It comes as part of Windows Server 2008 R2 and while it doesn't offer the same capabilities as VMware it is worth considering for smaller organisations looking to virtualise. Add on management tools are required so this needs to be taken into account. Click here to learn more about Virtualisation.
Most organisations have standardised their servers on Microsoft Windows Server, and for many this will be Windows 2003. It works well, is stable and reliable and every application works on 2003.
But this operating system is also now 7 years old, and that's a long time in the technology world, and with replacement products Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 having been released, all the development and focus is on the new products. Microsoft have End of Life'd Windows 2003 Server for support in July 2010 so it is definitely time to look at Server 2008. These have received wide support and acceptance with their greater robustness and extended features, and in our experience they perform even better than their predecessors.
Some of the key reasons organisations are upgrading include:
- Powerful Hardware and Scaling Features
- Reduced Power Consumption
- Easier and more Efficient Server Management
- Managing Data not just Managing Storage
- Ubiquitous Remote Access
- Improved Branch Office Performance and Management
- Simplified Management for SMBs - The Strongest Web and Application Server To Date
- Improve Terminal Services Functionality
ICT Worldwide are a Microsoft Partner, with a history of working with Windows Server from its earliest days, and we have deployed Windows Server 2008 across large numbers of customers, in both physical and virtual environments. This experience means that we are well versed in the technology and are entirely comfortable with recommending it to any organisation seeking performance improvements in their network.
Microsoft Exchange is the clear leader in email servers and the new release, Exchange 2010 is a great addition to the portfolio. It provides a powerful way to manage all of your email and calendaring, and is robust enough to scale to the largest environment.
For some organisations upgrading to the latest Microsoft product is considered risky. But staying on old technology has its limitations. Should you look at implementing Exchange 2007 rather than 2010? We don't think so, as all of the improvements that 2007 brought have been improved even further in Exchange 2010 has confirmed that it improves on this even further.
Some of the key reasons organisations are upgrading include:
- New integrated archiving capabilities
- New high availability capabilities
- Enhancements to simplify administration
- Comprehensive information protection capabilities
The management tools in Exchange Server 2010 provide new self-service capabilities to users so they can have more control over their messaging without having to turn to the helpdesk for answer to common problems or quick fixes. Compliance specialists can perform multi-mailbox searches and export the results to PST files for legal discovery. Users can find out for themselves whether a message they sent to a business partner was received successfully or blocked by a spam filter.
Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) has long been popular with smaller organisations as it combined the core Microsoft server products, Windows Server and Exchange Server into one single server package many years before virtualisation enabled running multiple servers on the same hardware. Over the years it has improved and expanded, so that now in the current SBS 2008 release, the Premium version, which includes Microsoft SQL Server Database, requires a second server to run on.
SBS is limited to 75 users and its licensing is somewhat different to normal Windows Server licensing, but as long as you're safely under the 75 user limit then SBS can be a good option to consider.
Hyper-V is Microsoft's entry into the server virtualisation space where they are seeking to compete with VMware. It comes as part of Windows Server 2008 R2 and while it doesn't offer the same capabilities as VMware it is worth considering for smaller organisations looking to virtualise. Add on management tools are required so this needs to be taken into account. Click here to learn more about Virtualisation.